A Bradford health manager struggling with abusive psychiatric patients today called on police and the courts to do more to support those working on wards like hers.

Jenny Jones, 42, is the manager of Ashbrook ward at Lynfield Mount Hospital and has worked in the medical profession for 24 years.

She said her staff were confronted with verbally abusive patients every day and the threat of assault was very common.

Mrs Jones said there were times when the police had to be called every day but they were reluctant to make an arrest because the offenders were patients in a psychiatric hospital.

She said: "I think more people should be taken down a criminal justice route.

"If more people were arrested and charged with the offences they are committing then there would be less violence.

"People know, by the very fact that they are where they are, that the police won't do anything.

"The police will say they are in a psychiatric hospital and the Crown Prosecution Service will throw the case out."

Mrs Jones said that in the few cases that were prosecuted, offenders did not receive a sentence equal to their crime.

She said: "We had one man, who demolished a set of security doors with his hands and feet because we would not give him the drugs he wanted.

"He did £10,000 worth of damage and was given a £100 fine and bound over to keep the peace."

Most of the violent patients had been detained under the mental health act and became aggressive when staff tried to stop them leaving the hospital.

Mrs Jones said staff were trying to raise awareness about the difficulties they faced and had completed a number of one-day workshops with the police, looking at ways to improve this situation.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Any incident that is reported to the police is taken seriously and investigated and, if suspects are identified, the advice of CPS is sought in relation to any potential charges and we are guided by that advice.

"As the manager at Lynfield Mount has said, we have been working closely with the hospital to ensure their staff can work in safety and security."

A spokesman for the CPS said: "We don't generalise, and each case is looked at on its own merits."