Drunks who attack hospital staff face pubs and clubs ban

People charged with assaulting hospital staff after drinking in Swansea are to be banned from the city's pubs and clubs over Christmas.

It is part of the Safer Swansea Partnership annual "Call time on violent crime" initiative.

It will see an exclusion zone set up which will ban people who have been charged with assaulting hospital staff from drinking in the city centre.



Health bosses in Swansea have welcomed the scheme. Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust chairman Win Griffiths said: "I'm very pleased that the Safer Swansea Partnership has taken this action, which should help protect our staff from violent and aggressive behaviour.

"I hope this will act as a deterrent and reduce the numbers of people coming into our A&E department, which will also help take the pressure off our very hard-working staff."

The move comes just two months after an agreement was signed by the police and Wales' health minister at Swansea's Morriston Hospital which allowed police to work more closely with the NHS in Wales in the investigation of allegations of violence towards NHS staff. Latest figures show that there were 7,343 incidents of violence and aggression in the NHS in Wales in 2007/08.