Hundreds of violent and abusive patients were reported by nurses at Homerton Hospital last year, documents have revealed.
Alcohol and family feuds sparked aggressive behaviour, with at least 364 abuse allegations recorded in just 11 months in 2011.
Cut backs have seen a reduced number of security staff, with the hospital relying more heavily on CCTV cameras to deal with incidents.
In one assault case last summer, police arrested a patient after a string of attacks on nurses.
An incident report said the man threatened staff with a butter knife and “aggressively pushed a nurse in the face with a halved grapefruit.”
In a separate case, a staff member had to be given a personal attack alarm in case a violent patient attacked her outside the hospital.
One patient was caught on camera throwing a machine at a nurse.
Another incident led to a patient and her mother being kicked out of the hospital after being verbally and racially abusive.
But documents show that the hospital’s security services has been hit by cut backs.
A memo written following an abuse case in one of the hospital’s departments claimed that the “security officer posted in the department was withdrawn in April due to cut backs.”
It added: a “recommendation was made to the department to upgrade the CCTV system in order to assist the staff in overseeing any outbursts of violence.”
Local resident David Woode said that when he visited the hospital recently the waiting room had been filled with drunk and aggressive people.
“There were people arguing loudly and swearing, even though there were young children there.”
He said: “The hospital seems understaffed, so it was quite easy for it to carry on.”
“It could easily have got out of hand. I didn’t notice any security there.”
A spokesperson for Homerton admitted that aggressive behaviour was an issue for the hospital.
But he said: “It’s an issue in all hospitals, especially where you’ve got people coming in who are drunk and disorderly.”
“But we’ve got the necessary system to deal with it,” he said. “We have a robust system for help and support in these situations.”
