Attacks and abuse against nurses ‘a national emergency’

More than one in five nurses and midwives have experienced physical violence from patients or relatives while working in the NHS over the last 12 months, new data has shown.

Results of the latest NHS Staff Survey have today added weight to ongoing concerns over abuse against nurses – with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) describing the situation as a ‘national emergency for staff safety’.

The survey, which was completed by 219,563 nurses and midwives in autumn 2025, revealed that 22.6% of respondents said they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, their relatives or members of the public in the last 12 months. This was the highest level seen since 2022 (23.4%).

More than a third of nurses and midwives (35%) also said they had experienced at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, service users, their relatives or members of the public in the last 12 months – also the highest seen since 2022 (38.5%).

Over one in 10 (11.4%) also said they had experienced unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature in the workplace on at least one occasion.

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A further 13.8% of nurse and midwife respondents said they had experienced discrimination from patients in the last year, while 10.3% said they had experienced this from colleagues. Of these, 63.2% said this was on the grounds of race.

More than 200 NHS organisations took part in the survey including all 206 NHS Trusts. All eligible staff were invited to complete the survey from admin and clerical and general management, to nurses, social care and dental.

Chief executive and general secretary of the RCN Professor Nicola Ranger said the survey results ‘should profoundly shock us all’.

‘The findings once again lift the lid on the torrent of violence, sexual assaults, discrimination and abuse faced by nursing staff and other NHS workers while they try to provide care,’ she said.

‘Year after year, the figures reveal disgraceful and steadily rising attacks against our predominantly female profession, with no sign of letting up, and falling confidence among staff that employers will do anything about it.

‘This is a national emergency for staff safety and it should profoundly shock us all.’

Professor Ranger added: ‘Employers have a legal duty to protect their staff, but it’s clear so many are failing with these conditions now becoming a daily reality.

‘What staff need isn’t more talk of “zero tolerance”. Instead, we need a culture of transparency and accountability, where staff are empowered to speak up and employers take action and are seen to take action.’

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The RCN chief also urged ministers to ‘recognise and address the link between under-resourced services, waiting times and rising violence against staff’.

‘That requires new investment in those services and the nursing workforce, specifically to increase capacity and ease intolerable pressures,’ said Professor Ranger.

She added that the government’s highly anticipated NHS workforce plan ‘must prioritise eradicating this shocking treatment at work and improving staff experiences’.

The survey, which was completed by 760,000 healthcare workers overall, found that 14.5% of NHS staff in England experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, their relatives or members of the public in the last 12 months overall – the highest since 2022 (14.8%).

Danny Mortimer, director general (people) for NHS England, said: ‘These figures paint a deeply worrying picture of the abuse our hardworking NHS staff face.

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‘Staff safety and wellbeing is paramount, and we want everyone experiencing any kind of unwanted incident to feel confident enough to report it.’

More than 60% of respondents (60.29%) said they feel safe to speak up about anything that concerns them in their organisations and 47.59% said they are confident their organisation would address their concerns.

He added that the results reflected that ‘there is so much more to do to make the NHS a better place to work’.