Health and social care workers in Northern Ireland have been verbally or physically assaulted more than 72,000 times in the past five years. The vast majority of recorded attacks, around 60,000, were physical. The figures come in response to a written question by Diana Dodds of the Democratic Unionist Party in the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly. The number of physical attacks averages 32 cases per employee every day in the period 2020-2024. Between 2018-19 and 2022-23, 50,000 attacks on healthcare workers were reported. The most recent five-year period from 2020-21 to 2024-25 saw a 40% increase in attacks compared to the previous one. The data does not include records of attacks on general practitioners.