MORE than 6,000 assaults were committed against NHS staff in the region last year - with three patients responsible for more than 100 incidents each.

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW), a mental health trust, had the highest level of assaults in the country, according to figure released by NHS Protect.

The trust's staff were assaulted on 3,335 occasions in 2013/14 - up from 3,272 during the previous 12 months.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, also a mental health trust, recorded 1,548 assaults, compared to 1,331 last year.

Elsewhere in the region, 188 assaults were committed on staff from South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital and the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.

A further 233 attacks occurred against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust staff.

The trust runs several hospitals including the University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The figures show that the region's ambulance staff were also targeted, with 73 assaults on North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust workers and 110 on their Yorkshire counterparts.

Across the region there were 6,432 assaults, with NHS trusts taking criminal action on 77 occasions.

Commenting on the figures, NTW chief executive John Lawlor said the trust provided specialist mental health care across the North-East of England.

He added: “As a result we care for some of the most mentally distressed people in the whole country, and a large number of these incidents were down to a small number of people.

"The 3,335 assaults involved 489 service users out of a total of 80,051, or half of one per cent. Indeed three patients were responsible for more than 100 incidents each.

“Explanations aside, we are not complacent. We know that even one assault on a member of staff is one too many. By the same token, although around 85 per cent of these incidents resulted in either no injury or only a minor injury being caused that does not mean they are acceptable.”

Brent Kilmurray, chief operating officer at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said the trust was one of the largest in the country, with more than 6,000 staff providing services.

He added: "We take the safety of our staff very seriously and do everything we can to minimise the risk to them at work.

“We have done a lot of work over the last few years to address this issue and have recently reviewed and updated our challenging behaviour policy."