Almost a third of UK nurses suffer frequent violence at work, according to new research.Only France has higher rates of violence, the study found, from a list of 10 European countries including Belgium, Italy and Poland.The research, published in the journal Occupational Medicine, found that 29% of UK nurses had suffered frequent violent incidents at the hands of patients or their relatives. In France, the figure was 39% and 28% in Germany.The researchers, from France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, found that violence had wide-reaching effects including nurses leaving the profession, problems with recruitment, increased amounts of sick leave and “burnout”.The study was based on a survey of 39,894 nurses. The authors said: “Staff should be protected by a sound trust policy and incidents should be carefully monitored. Read more