A shocking attack on a nurse who was hit with a chair and had ammonia squirted into his eyes reveals the frightening realities faced by health workers every day.

Community nurse Peter Stecher needed five stitches in a cut and treatment to his eyes after an assault by bricklayer Mark Scott.

A court heard Scott "saw red" when he was refused a prescription for the heroin substitute methadone and launched the violent attack at Uckfield Hospital.

Scott, 37, who had been treated for his heroin problem for a number of years, had been refused methadone because he was under suspicion of receiving two daily prescriptions of the drug instead of one by applying to different clinics.

He squirted the noxious chemical into the face of Mr Stecher, causing him intense pain and a burning sensation in his eyes.

While Mr Stecher was in agony, Scott started punching him and pummelling him in the head until he fell to the ground.

Scott picked up a chair and started hitting him with it and stamping on Mr Stecher.

When other staff rushed into the room they feared Mr Stecher had been stabbed because of the amount of blood he had lost.

Scott squirted the ammonia at his GP, David Wright, but luckily the doctor was wearing glasses and was not seriously hurt.

Mr Stecher described to police how the intense pain he suffered from the ammonia was like no other he had ever felt.

After wearing contact lenses for 35 years, he is no longer able to use them as a result of the injuries he suffered. His self-confidence has also been affected.

Dr Wright, Scott's GP for about ten years, told officers he felt shaken, distressed and shocked by the violence.

Scott, of Uplands Drive, Uckfield, was jailed for seven years for the attack.

The case comes days after The Argus revealed more than 500 nurses, paramedics,doctors and hospital workers were attacked in Sussex last year by patients or their relatives. At Lewes Crown Court, Judge Richard Brown told Scott: "A message has to be sent out that violence against health care staff will not be tolerated.

Scott admitted wounding with intent, common assault and having a prohibited weapon, the ammonia.

The court heard he has previous convictions for violence, drugs and dishonesty.

Ten years ago he was sentenced to three years in jail for robbing an elderly woman tourist of her handbag.

Graeme Ford, prosecuting, told the court the attack happened on May 11 last year at the hospital in Framfield Road.

John Marsden-Lynch, defending, told the court Scott was carrying the plastic bottle of ammonia for self-defence after his home was attacked by two men armed with baseball bats days earlier and he had been threatened.

Mr Marsden-Lynch said: "He was so traumatised and frightened he was living in his car and carrying the bottle with him everywhere."

He said Scott reacted with violence after being suddenly cut off the methadone programme.

He told the court: "He went to the clinic to protest his innocence.

"He was a heroin addict who had been cut off totally from his supply of drugs.

"When it was clear he was not getting drugs he simply saw red. There was an explosion of rage."