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Writing for the Mirror amid a debate in Parliament, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth condemns the 'national scandal' of 193 NHS workers being attacked every day.

Today's debate was prompted by more than 100,000 people signing a petition to make it a specific criminal offence to assault NHS staff.

A survey of Royal College of Nursing members found 56% had experienced physical or verbal abuse from patients and a further 63% from patients’ relatives or members of the public.

Here’s what Jon Ashworth says Labour would do to combat the rise in attacks

Assaults on NHS staff are on the rise. Official figures show there were more than 70,000 attacks on staff in the English health service last year, up 18% in five years.

No one should worry about the threat of violence at work. It’s time to give NHS workers the legal protections they need to carry out their job in safety.

Hospitals can be a stressful place for patients and their families. Tory cutbacks to services mean that waiting times are longer and waiting rooms are busier.

But there can never be any excuse for assaults on the very people who are doing so much to keep the service running in the fact of massive neglect from the Government.

A survey by the Royal College of Nursing found that more than half of nurses had experienced physical or verbal abuse from patients. One in ten nurses who worked alone had been physically abused in the previous 2 years.

It’s clear that NHS staff are at greater risk than ever before.

(Image: Getty)

But incredibly, rather than increasing support for staff, Ministers are proposing to remove safety responsibilities from NHS Protect, the body which leads on work to safeguard NHS staff.

It is not currently a specific offence to attack NHS staff. By contrast, there are specific offences of attacking on-duty police officers, prison officers, and immigration officers.

My Labour colleague Holly Lynch has been campaigning for legal changes to better support emergency services staff. Today Parliament will debate better legal provision and protection for NHS medical staff and making it a specific offence to assault them.

Despite the rise in incidents, only around 10% of physical assaults in the NHS result in criminal sanctions.

The Labour Party supports calls for better legal protection for our amazing NHS workers, and is backing the campaign for a change in the law.

Staff should not be left worrying whether their safety and security is being properly considered.

It is a national scandal that 193 NHS staff are physically attacked every single day.

The law should be changed to give NHS workers the protections they need to carry out the incredible work they do, day in day out, caring for the nation’s patients, without the threat of violence.

If Tory Ministers won't change the law I pledge today that a Labour government will do and give out hardworking NHS staff the protection they deserve.