Four men with a knife arrested at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital

Officers were called to Queen Alexandra Hospital last night after a group of men, one of whom had been stabbed, caused issues in A&E while waiting for a doctor.

A worker in the Emergency Department told The News: ‘I wasn’t worried at the time but when we found out about the knife after I thought they could have stabbed someone. It is worrying to think about where they had come from with the person who had been stabbed and what they were planning.

‘They wanted to see a doctor and they waited for a bit but then they left.

‘They came back around 11.30pm and said they had not been seen. They started kicking off and five police cars turned up and a wagon and they were taken away.

‘It is terrifying and makes you think how vulnerable people are at QA.’

A police spokesman said: ‘I can confirm we attended Queen Alexandra Hospital last night and arrested four males. After a search of a vehicle, we recovered one knife.

‘A 22-year-old from Southsea, a 22-year-old from Gosport and a 23-year-old and 24-year-old both from Hayes, Greater London, were arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

‘They remain in custody. One of the men had suffered stab wounds and was treated at the hospital. Enquiries are ongoing.’

Nigel Kee, chief operating officer at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust said: ‘Any aggressive, violent or antisocial behaviour at our hospital is unacceptable. The safety of our patients and our staff is our primary concern.’

In April this year Queen Alexandra Hospital launched a Respect and Protect campaign which has a zero tolerance on abuse towards staff and has seen patients warned consequences could include being removed from hospital and having to travel miles away for treatment.

Employees can now report incidents which are then reviewed by the security management team and further action can be taken.

In the period between April 1 and August 30, 90 physical assaults were reported, verbal abuse to staff totalled 68 reports and there were 58 incidents that combined physical assault and verbal abuse.