MEDICS today hit out after a drunken man who punched a nurse while she was treating him avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Blackburn magistrates suspended a jail term on Stephen Booth, despite hearing that the attack on someone doing her best to help him had caused nurse Heather Clarke to suffer a loss of confidence.

In a statement read to the court she said: "I love my job but this has made me doubt my career in nursing."

Booth, 41, of Cherry Tree Lodge, Islington, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assault. He was given a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and made subject to community supervision.

He was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to Miss Clarke, who was punched in the face.

Today fellow nurse Rosemary Emmonds, who suffered a vicious assault at Audley Health Centre last year asked how much staff would have to suffer before serious action was taken.

The number of assaults on medics and emergency crews has already prompted a Government review of sentencing for violent offences.

And Neil White, prosecuting, said the Court of Appeal had ruled that custody was "almost inevitable" for anyone who assaulted a member of the hospital staff.

"This was an assault on a female nurse who was doing her best to treat the defendant on her ward at Blackburn Royal Infirmary. Despite being punched in the face she was still prepared to try to treat him and she has clearly behaved quite admirably throughout this incident," he said.

He said Booth had been accompanied to Miss Clarke's ward for further treatment after being admitted through A and E. He was accompanied by three security guards because his behaviour in the emergency department had already caused concern.

Mrs Emmonds, Audley Health Centre manager, who lives in Burnley, was butted twice by John Southworth last March. At Blackburn Magistrates Court, 52-year-old Southworth was spared a prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to the assault.

But Mrs Emmonds said: "What does it take for anyone to listen? Where is the pleasure in coming in to work. We don't come in to be abused or to be punched around like a football. We come to work to help people. To help people to get better.

"I think it's totally wrong. The Government needs to wake up. The magistrates need to wake up. They are not helping us. They're not doing us any favours."

East Lancashire Hospitals have adopted a zero tolerance approach to violence against staff with the potential to ban patients from receiving treatment if they become abusive.

Caroline Collins, regional officer for East Lancashire for the Royal College of Nursing, said: "At least this has been recognised as a serious assault.

"But it's a shame about the leniency of the sentence.

"The message this gives this gentleman is that there are very little sanctions applied by society in general for those who assault people trying to help them."

Roger Pickles, defending, said Booth was horrified by his behaviour.

He said Booth had been lashing out generally and it had not been a targeted attack on the nurse.