LOW staffing levels at an East Lancashire mental health hospital are leading to more assaults by patients, according to unions.

Unison also say there are higher sickness levels among stressed workers at Calderstones in Whalley.

Patients do not receive the care and attention they need 75 per cent of the time because of lack of staff, claimed regional officer Brendan Doyle.

He said: "Calderstones is understaffed and it's putting patients and staff at risk. Our members are being assaulted and are becoming sick with stress."

Staff dealing with mental health patients in residential units at Calderstones take one day off every three weeks on average.

They were absent due to sickness 6.66 per cent of the time from October to March, according to figures released by Calderstones NHS Trust today.

Mr Doyle said all patients were assessed by behavioural therapists who decided what level of observation they needed, and managers usually agreed to provide the staff needed to meet the requirements.

But lack of workers meant the remaining staff were over-stretched and patients who were meant to be under observation were often left alone temporarily, especially at night, he claimed. Nursing assistant Pete Hawkins, Unison branch secretary at Calderstones, said: "Morale is at an all time low. The staffing levels are absolutely terrible and people are getting hurt because of it.

"Aggression and violence towards staff is not being well managed. Some of these sickness absences are due to staff having time off after being assaulted."

He said staff turnover in the troubled residential units was about 27 per cent a year and there were difficulties recruiting workers to the jobs.

Mr Hawkins said he had discussed the problems with Calderstones bosses, who were also concerned, but nothing had yet been done.

During the last six months, the absence level for all the Trust's 1,100 staff, including office workers, was 5.28 per cent.

In the last year, staff throughout the Trust have taken an average of 16 days off each due to sickness, the same as the previous two years.

Graham Jowett, deputy chief executive for the Trust, said there could be many reasons for the high absence rate and he was unable to pinpoint any particular factors.

He said some of the absences were due to the winter 'flu epidemic and staff were working to reduce absence levels.

Concerns about staffing levels in the medium-secure unit at Calderstones were also voiced two years ago when two patients escaped. One was found in Whalley and the other reached Blackburn before he was returned to the unit.