According to data released by UNISON and Nursing Time, more than nine in ten nurses and midwives have experienced physical violence while doing their jobs.

This abuse includes NHS staff being punched, bitten, spat at, choked, headbutted and even stabbed.

One in eleven are facing violence on a daily basis.

The findings come from a joint survey by UNISON and Nursing Times of more than 1,000 nursing and midwifery staff and students.

17 per cent of nurses and midwives said they had experiences violence in the previous week and 63 per cent said they had been attacked in the last year.

44 per cent of respondents cited staff shortages as an aggravating factor. 27 per cent said the treatment of patients in appropriate settings was also partly to blame.

UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Staff are as frustrated as patients and hospital visitors about delays and long waits. They want to be able to treat people more quickly but can’t.

“No one should be attacked or live in fear of being assaulted, when all they’re doing is going to work to care for those in need.

“Not all patients are capable of controlling their actions, but those that are, and who’ve been violent, must face the consequences of harming NHS workers.

“Employers have a legal duty to protect staff from any risk to their health or safety at work, and must do more. A dramatic cultural shift is needed in the NHS or the service will keep losing experienced people who’ve simply had enough.”