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NHS A&E staff now face record violence, with one worker attacked every two hours, according to Royal College of Nursing data. Rising waits, corridor care and staff shortages are fuelling assaults, forcing many nurses out of frontline roles. The crisis affects patients too, reducing capacity across both NHS and private UK care. MMG offers a “third way” – connecting patients to accredited hospitals abroad for timely, safe and affordable treatment beyond Britain’s overstretched healthcare system.

The latest figures from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) reveal a reality as disturbing as it is tragic: one NHS A&E worker is attacked every two hours in England. These aren’t isolated incidents. They are the symptom of a system buckling under intolerable pressure – and the human consequences are falling hardest on the very people keeping it alive.

According to RCN data, drawn from Freedom of Information requests to 89 hospital trusts, there were 4,054 reports of physical violence against A&E staff last year. That’s nearly double the 2,093 recorded in 2019, and it equates to 11 assaults on A&E staff every single day. The real figure is almost certainly higher, given that only 69% of acute trusts responded and the requests covered only their largest A&E departments.

What’s driving this surge in violence? The RCN points to unsafe staffing levels, corridor care and, above all, intolerable waiting times. Between 2019 and 2024, the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E has risen twentyfold. In those conditions, tempers flare and sometimes they boil over into violence.

“Even patients you would expect to be placid are becoming irate”

The testimonies from nurses paint a grim picture.

• Rachelle McCarthy, a senior charge nurse from the East Midlands, was “punched square in the face” by a “drunk, 6ft 2in bloke.” She says, “Even patients you would expect to be placid are becoming irate because of just how long they have to wait. You can only imagine the behaviour of those who are already prone to violence.”
• A senior A&E nurse in east London describes her hospital as a “tinder box” for violence. She has seen colleagues punched, kicked and even threatened with a gun. She herself was spat at by a patient and threatened with an acid attack, an experience that left her anxious, depressed and seeking a research role just to get away.
• In the Southwest, another senior nurse recalls a patient “pinning a nurse up against a wall” and another “punching a member of staff in the groin and stomach.” Her verdict? “It’s not going to help with our retention and recruitment if you think you’re going to be clobbered every shift.”

For some, the consequences have been devastating. Sarah Tappy, a senior A&E sister in east London, was punched in the head and knocked unconscious by a patient, leaving her with PTSD. “The violence is awful,” she says. “And it’s just constant. None of us feel safe.”

A system at breaking point

The RCN’s general secretary, Professor Nicola Ranger, does not mince words: “Behind these shocking figures lies an ugly truth. Dedicated and hard-working staff face rising attacks because of systemic failures that are no fault of their own. Nursing staff not only go to work underpaid and undervalued but face a rising tide of violence. It leads to physical and mental scarring, lengthy time off and sometimes staff never returning.”

This is not simply a workplace safety issue: it’s a patient care issue. Violence drives experienced staff away, worsens shortages, and deepens the cycle of delays and frustration. As Professor Ranger warns: “You can’t fix the Health Service when vital staff are too scared to go into work. Unless the Government does something about lengthy waits, corridor care and understaffed nursing teams, more staff will become victims of this utterly abhorrent behaviour.”

The Government response, and its limits

In April, Health Secretary Wes Streeting pledged to “keep NHS staff safe” by introducing mandatory hospital-level reporting of violence. “Protecting staff from violence is not an optional extra,” he said. “Anyone who violates this core principle will feel the full force of the law.”

But the RCN says this isn’t enough. Recording incidents won’t make the job safer, nor will it fix the root causes of violence: excessive waits, inadequate staffing and the erosion of public trust in the system. Without decisive action, the RCN warns, the Government’s ten-year plan to reform the NHS will “fail completely.”

What this means for patients – and for MMG’s mission

The situation is a stark reminder that the NHS crisis is not only about patients enduring long waits or cancelled procedures: it’s also about the strain on the professionals delivering care. When nurses leave the NHS due to violence, trauma or burnout, it reduces capacity for both the public and private UK healthcare sectors. And when that happens, more patients start looking abroad.

At MMG, we see the full picture. Patients want timely, high-quality care without the chaos and delays. Increasingly, we are also seeing NHS staff – doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals – leaving the UK for better working conditions overseas. This is not a coincidence. It’s the natural result of a system that has been allowed to drift into dangerous dysfunction.

Medical travel is not a luxury for the few: it is fast becoming a practical solution for both patients and practitioners seeking safety, dignity, and excellence in healthcare.

The reality we cannot ignore

When violence becomes “constant,” as one nurse put it, the problem is no longer just a security issue. It’s a sign that the care environment has become unsafe for everyone inside it. The statistics are shocking, but the human stories are worse — and they all point to the same conclusion: the NHS is in crisis on multiple fronts, and the cost is being paid in lives, wellbeing, and the flight of talent from the UK.

At MMG, our commitment is to offer patients a “third way” – not stuck on an NHS waiting list and not paying inflated private UK prices for overstretched services. Instead, we connect people with accredited hospitals in the European Union that offer safe, timely and affordable care. In a world where the NHS waiting room can become a place of danger rather than healing, that alternative has never been more necessary.