St Vincent’s Hospital had 41 fewer patients presenting with fractured eye sockets in two years after the controversial lockout laws came into effect than the two years before, a new analysis of their long-term impact has found.

The number of cases of orbital fracture relating to violence at the hospital dropped 10 per cent over two years after the controversial legislation came into effect, the study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, found.

“The number of fractures associated with alleged violence or assault was statistically significantly lower,” the report, which was co-authored by the director of the hospital’s emergency department and proponent of the laws, Gordian Fulde, said.

Overall presentations to the hospital for the injuries dropped from 196 in the two years prior to the lockout laws' introduction in 2014 to 155 in the two years following.