Tamworth hospital: 15 per cent of patients reported hearing threats or abusive behaviour toward hospital staff

Another eight per cent felt threatened by other patients or visitors, a Bureau of Health Information (BHI) report reveals.

It's disappointing that not everyone treats healthcare staff with respect, Hunter New England Health rural and regional health executive director Susan Heyman said, but often people aren't coming in at their best.

"We need to remember the context in which people come to the ED, often they are very ill or very distressed," she said.

"It is a problem and we need to recognise, while we need to respond to health needs we can't expect our staff to tolerate even one incident of aggressive or violent behaviour - 15 per cent is not acceptable.

"Of course we're always disappointed to hear that and we don't want to.

"Fortunately 85 per cent of the time people attending ED don't experience that, the majority of people who come to the ED treat our staff well and in turn receive the best quality care we can provide."

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Staff at the hospital are trained to deescalate situations where a patient becomes aggressive because of pain, mental health issues or drug or alcohol abuse.

The physical environment is also designed to be as calming as possible.

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