Swindon hospital staff physically hurt in assaults amid rising pressure
Staff at a hospital's emergency department said they have been physically hurt in assaults amid increasing pressures on the NHS.
Managers at Swindon's Great Western Hospital said they have noticed "a lot more" attacks and verbal abuse directed at staff.
was being driven by factors such as long wait times and anxiety about the cost-of-living crisis, they added.
's trust has now introduced a support service for those affected.
Natalie Lawrence, the matron in the hospital's emergency department, told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "We've had a lot more physical assaults in the last couple of months, we have had staff physically hurt."
She continued: "We've had staff threatened with being attacked or raped which was particularly distressing for those members of staff - racial abuse as well.
"It is really difficult and sometimes the verbal abuse can be quite personal and we are seeing a definite increase in violence and more agitated behaviour."
re were 24 assaults between August and September alone, as well as a number of cases of verbal abuse.
On one occasion a patient left the department and returned armed with a with a bar of wood, another involved an attempted strangulation, and there were a number of examples of staff being hit.  
Ms Lawrence said: "A lot of our incidents are related to mental health incidents, it's not [the patient's] fault, but it makes it very difficult."
She said hospital staff would ask patients and their families to "remember that we are all human".
"We want to do more to help but equally try and respect us - everyone across the NHS is trying their best," she said. 
Jon Freeman, clinical health and wellbeing lead for the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the hospital was putting measures in place to support staff.
He said there was a process in place called TRIM - an acronym for trauma risk management - to help staff following instances of abuse.
"We are seeing it all the time, people are leaving the NHS for lots of different reasons," Dr Freeman said.
"Often it's because they are really struggling to do the job they want to do as well as they want to do it and as well as they have been trained to do it. 
"So it's really important that we look after staff, that they feel supported so we are not short-staffed." 
Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk