More than 500 nurses, paramedics, doctors and hospital workers were attacked in Sussex last year by patients or their relatives.

Figures from the Department of Health revealed that one out of every 63 members of the NHS were assaulted in the county during 2005.

The figures reveal the number of assaults on staff at each health trust in Sussex.

East Sussex Hospitals' NHS Trust recorded the most assaults, with 146 attacks for 5,347 staff, a rate of one per 37 workers.

Staff at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals' NHS Trust suffered 125 attacks, a rate of one every 48 workers.

Numbers rose to one assault for every 28 members of Sussex Ambulance Service.

In all there were 527 assaults on the 33,019 NHS staff in the county.

Ambulance staff are now asking their bosses to actively pursue attackers and have them convicted for assault.

Duncan Jones, Unison representative, said: "We've had people being pushed and thumped and it's just not acceptable.

"We're only called because people want help. There's no cause for people to be so aggressive. We understand tempers get frayed but people are too willing to lash out at us.

"It seems to be increasing and we think sometimes our employers give in too easily."

A hospital security guard who works in Sussex said he had seen staff beaten and receptionists spat on.

He said: "It's amazing what we have to deal with. I've been assaulted but to be honest a lot of us have.

"We had one man in his early 20s walk through the door with his girlfriend who started spitting at reception staff. She was obviously told to stop but the male then stepped in front of her and decided to take a swing.

"We managed to restrain him and take him outside where he tried to kick us, headbutt us, and two of my ribs were broken.

"The girlfriend joined in as well, headbutting my colleague and breaking his glasses. There seems to be a violent nature in some people."

The incident was just one of a staggering 2,300 occasions in which police were called out to the county's hospitals last year, for crimes that included the use of knives and firearms.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals' NHS Trust has spent £300,000 on a new security control room at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

It will use 170 cameras to monitor crime on the site as well as the new children's hospital.

Mark Dunnett, the trust's security manager, said: "People being drunk is a big factor, as are drugs. We have people who have mental health problems and sometimes people are traumatised and not acting normally. But where there's clear intent to cause harm we will apprehend the individual and call for a prosecution.

"No one comes to work to get beaten up or threatened or intimidated. Racial abuse also happens. It affects people and leads to lower staff morale, as well as staff sickness."

Under new plans developed by the NHS Security Management Service, those who are threatening or abusive to NHS staff could be slapped with a £1,000 fine.

Patients and those needing treatment who behave in an antisocial manner will still be treated but later could face fines or be subject to criminal action.