MORE than 1,300 incidents of abuse against staff were recorded by Southampton s biggest hospital, the Daily Echo can reveal. University Hospital Southampton has recorded a total of 1,304 incidents of abuse and assault towards staff by patients in the last four years sparking calls for more police back-up in A&E. An FOI submitted by the Daily Echo asked for the number of incidents of abuse or assault on staff, which revealed that 115 of the incidents resulted in police being called to assist. The most assaults were recorded between 2016 to 2017 where staff reported 359 incidents in one year. Incidents dropped between 2017 to 2018 with 311 reported incidents, followed by 290 incidents the following year between 2018 and 2019.