HOSPITAL bosses have called in two black belt judo experts to train staff to deal with violence.

Hundreds of staff at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, are being given the training.

Tracy Woods, of MAT Personal Safety Advisors, said: "We do not want ninja nurses, but people working in hospitals need to be more aware of personal safety."

Ms Woods, who is a Redcar judo coach with a third dan black belt, is one of the instructors taking the course.

Welcoming the courses, the main health workers' union in the region, Unison, said more needed to be done at other hospitals to help staff defend themselves.

Ms Woods said few staff appeared to have had training in personal safety awareness.

The scheme follows a 13 per cent rise in violence against NHS staff throughout the UK in the past two years.

About 500 staff at the hospital are learning how to spot trouble and how to defuse aggressors.

While they will not be taught judo holds, they will be shown how to break free from an assailant, using techniques adapted from police training.

While Ms Woods, a partner in the Redcar firm, said most staff were enthusiastic about the courses, she was surprised at how few had been given training.

She said: "A large majority of the people we see have not had any training at all.

"Our main emphasis is to train people to be more aware of what is going on around them.We keep it really simple."

Alan Cawthorne, the other partner in the firm, said: "We teach people to spot the early signs of aggression and how to calm people down.

"It includes positive communication skills, getting the body language right and using the right tone of voice."

Dave Armstrong, a North-East officer with Unison, said: "We would certainly agree that few health staff have had this kind of training, even though aggression is getting to be an increasingly bad problem in the NHS.

"We would definitely welcome any additional training for health staff."