Two nurses from the Emergency Department at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor have talked about the level of aggression and violence they face while at work.

Since 2015, reports of physical assaults by members of the public and patients towards NHS hospital staff have gone up by 15%, with 63 assaults on hospital staff on average per day.

The nurses told the ITV Tonight programme they experience a “low level or verbal aggression nearly every shift” but two years ago Catherine and Andrew were both assaulted by the same patient.

Catherine said: “I was on shift dealing with an intoxicated patient and just on speaking to him, he stood up and punched me in the chest and winded me and I landed on a poorly patient, who was passing by in the corridor.”

At the time of the incident Andrew was transferring a critically ill patient. He said: “It came out of nowhere, all of a sudden his fella grabbed me, throttled me and then put me into a headlock.

“I was so shocked because there was no escalation to it, I thought how dare you come into a hospital and not put only our lives at risk, but the life of the poor patient.”

Catherine and Andrew were rescued after intervention by fellow nurses and security. Their attacker was later jailed for two years for the assault and other offences.

“I felt a bit paranoid, would he be waiting for me outside?” Catherine added. “he knows where I work, would that put my children at risk.”

Andrew added: “In the past health care workers were respected, I think that line of respect has been crossed.”

A new law was introduced last year that’s aims to see those who attack police, paramedics, fire fighters, nurses and other blue light workers facing tougher sentences.

The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act creates a new aggravated offence of an assault against a member of the emergency services and doubles the maximum sentence for these offences from six to twelve months in prison.

Gary Doherty, Chief Executive at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said about the new law: “Our staff work extremely hard to care for and treat every patient who comes through our doors and it is unacceptable for them to be subjected to violent or aggressive behaviour.

“We take violence against our staff very seriously and we welcome this new legislation, which will see offenders who assault Health Board staff receiving tougher sentences.”