must be given

court back-up IT IS an abysmal reflection on how brutalised and selfish our society has become when our hospitals in East Lancashire are among the most violent spots in the community.

Whereas ordinary decent people would understandably expect them to be havens of calm and compassion, the grim truth is otherwise.

Statistics reveal almost-daily incidents of staff being assaulted and abused by patients and visitors -- on wards as well as in the front-line casualty department. Indeed, the problem is so bad at Blackburn Infirmary that a mini-police station has had to be set up there.

But, quite rightly, health chiefs are taking a zero tolerance stance -- writing people who behave aggressively or threateningly in hospitals that they may end up in court if they do it again. Even the mentally-ill may be prosecuted if they are believed to know what they are doing. It is perhaps too soon yet to gauge the effects of this drive, but early indications show a fall of almost a quarter in incidents of assault and abuse.

Trust bosses should keep up the effort -- as NHS staff have difficult and stressful enough task to perform in any case without the menace of vicious patients and visitors being added to it and they have a right to the fullest protection by their employers.

They must also automatically expect the fullest protection from the courts, for the zero tolerance tactic warning the offenders and prosecuting them must have the back-up of real punishment for the guilty.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.