AQW 26477/22-27

Mr Colin McGrath
Social Democratic and Labour Party
South Down

Tabled Date: 01/05/2025
Answered On Date: 27/05/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of incidents of violence against healthcare staff recorded in each of the last ten years, broken down Health and Social Care Trust.

Answer:

The number of incidents of violence (actual physical attacks) against healthcare staff over the last ten years is shown in the table below;

Financial Year	BHSCT	NHSCT	NIAS	SEHSCT	SHSCT	WHSCT	Total
2015/2016	2868	826*	156	1247	1510	759	6540
2016/2017	3139	424	192	1416	1404	923	7498
2017/2018	3813	586	191	1241	1712	797	8340
2018/2019	5629	741	171	1175	1938	1029	10683
2019/2020	3492	976	152	1117	1926	1074	8737
2020/2021	3429	1082	212	1021	1996	1411	9151
2021/2022	3436	1169	204	1085	2121	1643	9658
2022/2023	3548	1081	219	1382	2214	1320	9764
2023/2024	3361	1334	237	1518	1655	877	8982
2024/2025	2908	1560	187	1895	1964	1171	9685
Total	35623	8953	1921	13097	18440	11004	89038

*The number given for 2015/16 by the NHSCT may include more than actual physical attacks, such as threats of violence. This is due to the way in which data was recorded at the time which was changed and further refined from 2016 onwards.