• Figures from the Department of Health indicate that there were 89,038 attacks on healthcare staff in the past decade.
  • Belfast Trust saw the highest number of attacks (35,623), while the Northern Trust had the lowest of the five geographical trusts (8,953) and the ambulance service the lowest overall (1,921).
  • The lowest number of attacks occurred in 2015-16 (6,540) and the highest was in 2018-19 – with between 8,000 and 10,000 attacks every year since.

In a press release published on 28 May, SDLP MLA Colin McGrath said:

“We are nearing 100,000 attacks on healthcare staff … there have been just under 90,000 physical attacks on healthcare staff in the last ten years.”

This claim is supported by evidence.

Figures supplied to the MLA by the Health Minister show there were 89,038 attacks on healthcare staff between 2015-16 and 2024-25 inclusive.

For more details, including the number of attacks every year for each individual health trust, read on.

  • Source

Mr McGrath’s press release mentioned that this information appeared in the answer to a Written Question he tabled for the Health Minister about attacks on healthcare staff over the past decade.

FactCheckNI contacted Mr McGrath about his claim and he again referred us to that question, sending us a copy of the Minister’s response to him.

  • Figures

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt provided a breakdown of the number of attacks on healthcare staff for every year from 2015-16 to 2024-25 inclusive, broken down by the six health trusts – the five geographical trusts and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS).

Figure 1 – source: Minister of Health

These figures show that in total across the whole ten years there were 89,038 attacks on health staff.

This provides evidence to support the claim from Mr McGrath.

Note that the figures above come with a small caveat (that doesn’t significantly affect the overall total). According to the Minister’s response: 

“The number given for 2015/16 by the NHSCT may include more than actual physical attacks, such as threats of violence. This is due to the way in which data was recorded at the time which was changed and further refined from 2016 onwards.”

  • Further context

The Belfast Trust saw the most attacks on its staff over the ten years, with 35,623 incidents accounting for 40.0% of attacks overall.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the Belfast Trust has the most attacks, given it is the largest trust and has the most staff.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency operates a workforce dashboard for the Department of Health and its current figures – accurate at 31 March 2025 – are charted below.

Figure 2 – source: NISRA/DoH

These current figures – which may not be representative of staffing proportions at all points over the past decade – indicate that the Belfast Trust has 28.5% of the whole-time equivalent staffing across Health and Social Care (nearly double the size of the other four geographic health trusts). 

These figures suggest that proportionally, more attacks happen – or are recorded – in Belfast HSC. However, for several reasons it’s not a great idea to draw too many conclusions about what’s happening in each of the different trusts based on this information.

  • Data caution

This may suggest that staff in that trust are disproportionately at risk of attacks from the public – however, it does not prove this to be true. Again, the current staffing proportions may have changed over the decade.

Furthermore, healthcare staff working in particular settings or circumstances may be at particularly high, or low, risk of attack based on the nature of their work, and some trusts may have a relatively large, or small, number of staff working in such areas.

The same argument applies across all trusts, such as the Southern Trust (which also has the appearance of a relatively high number of attacks) and the Northern Trust, where attacks appear to be relatively low.

Without a detailed statistical analysis, involving proper weightings of granular details, it is impossible to say whether any of the trusts are particularly dangerous or safe for their staff.