NHS workers were physically assaulted more than 900 times in Dorset in the year 2015/16.

According to NHS figures the majority of the assaults were against staff working for Dorset Healthcare and Southern Health, both of which deal primarily with patients with mental health problems.

Staff at troubled Southern Health, which also covers Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, suffered 2,818 assaults in 12 months, or 398 per 1,000 staff. Of these, the trust deemed all but four to be due to "medical factors" affecting the patient.

The trust was last year involved in a scandal over its failure to properly investigate patient deaths.

Dorset Healthcare staff endured 401 assaults, or 64 per 1,000 staff, of which 94 were assessed as being caused by medical factors. None resulted in criminal or civil sanctions, according to the figures.

Last year Nicky Scopes, 41, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after stabbing Sister Karen Royles twice in the arm with a kitchen knife while seeking treatment for an injury to his wrist at Victoria Hospital in Wimborne on December 9 2015.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said attacks on NHS staff in England have risen sharply in the past year, with more than 70,000 assaults reported overall.

RCN South West director Jeannett Martin said: "One assault is one too many, employers must ensure the safety of their employees.

"NHS staff do not go to work expecting to be assaulted and should not accept the risk of violence as ‘part of the job’.

"Every incident should be reported and taken seriously by employers so that, where appropriate, charges are brought and in every case lessons learned to reduce the risk of re-occurrence."

The Royal Bournemouth Hospital saw 120 assaults, or 27 per 1,000 staff. For Poole Hospital the figures were 139 assaults or 31 per 1,000 staff. At Dorset County Hospital - 53 assaults or 15 per 1,000 staff.

South Western Ambulance Service staff were assaulted 160 times, or 35 per 1,000 staff. These incidents, in marked contrast to the acute and mental health trusts, saw 38 people face criminal sanctions such as cautions, fines or imprisonment, and 86 people face civil sanctions such as harassment and banning orders, acceptable behaviour agreements and injunctions.