UK’s Cardiff and the Vale Health Board said there are between 2,500 and 3,000 violent assaults on its staff each year. Staff at Wales’ busiest emergency unit are to wear security cameras on their chest in a bid to reduce verbal and physical attacks from patients.

Cardiff and Vale Health University Board has invested in five state-of-the-art security cameras which will be turned on by security guards at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff whenever they feel an act of violence could occur.

The devices, which cost £600 each, have already been used to help prosecute violent patients including homeless epileptic Raymond Osborne who was jailed for 15 months in January after spitting at guards.

A quarter of all incidents of verbal and physical aggression against NHS Wales staff take place at the Heath site in Cardiff which houses the biggest A&E department in the country.

Cardiff and Vale UHB said there are thousands of violent assaults on its hospital staff each year and 46% of them are classed as “intentional”.

Case manager Carl Ball, who provides support to staff who have been attacked or abused, said the high-definition cameras will accompany the current live cameras placed around the Heath site.

He said the audio aspect of the mini cameras is “vital” when it comes to successful prosecutions.

Security officers Heather Johnston and Matthew Bayliss with body cameras they have been issued with at University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff