Hospital staff in the Crawley and East Grinstead area may benefit from a new scheme to tackle violence in the workplace.

The scheme has been started by the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust in conjunction with police. The Trust runs Crawley Hospital and the East Surrey Hospital at Redhill.

Now, staff will be offered the chance to learn self-defence and how to restrain people.

The trust says one aim of the scheme is to reduce the fear of attacks on hospital staff.

There are about two assaults a week on NHS workers in the Mid Sussex area.

The scheme is backed by a £200,000 award from the Home Office and may be introduced in other areas as well.

The trust says priority for the training will be given to staff in departments such as accident and emergency.

In these areas, staff sometimes have to deal with drunks, drug addicts, and people who may become frustrated at long waiting times.

A national survey showed there were about 65,000 assaults against staff each year in the country, which range from obscene language and verbal abuse to physical attacks.