Teachers and nurses face 'outrageous' number of assaults

There were 58,695 violent or abusive attacks on NHS staff, 19,750 on teachers, 14,518 on police and 5,400 on rail and Underground workers.

Some 1,104 ambulance workers - one in 30 - were assaulted.

But it is estimated that only one in 1,000 attacks on NHS staff results in prosecution.

Karen Jennings, of the health union Unison, said: "Sadly these figures are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg, because many assaults still go unreported."

The NHS Security Management Service says that most assaults are on staff working with mental health patients or those with learning disabilities.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, who commissioned the research from the House of Commons library, said: "It is outrageous that so many dedicated people, who do so much for their communities, are put at such risk by this Government's utter failure to tackle crime and its causes."