NHS staff across Scotland have reported almost 100,000 incidents of violence and harassment over the last five years, shock figures show.
Health boards recorded a total of 97,203 cases since April 2018 where workers were subjected to abuse, including physical and sexual assault.
The figures show the average number of incidents remained around 19,000 per year even during the covid pandemic when most non-emergency procedures were suspended.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the country's largest health board, recorded the highest annual number of incidents in three of the last five years.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who obtained the figures in a Freedom of Information request, said they proved that some people were behaving towards health workers in a "despicable fashion".
The Scottish Government said it had extended legislation protecting emergency workers from abuse to include GPs, doctors and midwives working in the community.
A spokesman said it encourages all health boards to support criminal proceedings against those who abuse staff.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Scottish Lib Dem leader, said there was a need to understand how health workers could be made to feel safe.
He said: "NHS staff deserve to go to work without the fear of violence or harassment. Hospitals and clinics are somewhere that people attend when they are at a low point, seeking care, treatment and support.
"Instead they are being confronted by a small number of people who are behaving in a despicable fashion. We would work with nursing bodies and health boards to understand what staff need to feel safe at work and ensure that swift and thorough punishments are applied to those who behave so abhorrently.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "No-one should be the victim of abuse or violence while at work and assaults on NHS staff are completely unacceptable. We continue to encourage all NHS organisations to support criminal proceedings against anyone who assaults staff.
"The Emergency Workers Act includes a penalty of up to 12 months imprisonment, a £10,000 fine, or both and we have extended the act to include GPs, doctors, nurses and midwives working in the community."
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow said: "We have a strict policy towards violence against our staff who are entitled to work free of threats, assaults and intimidation, and we take any act of physical or verbal abuse very seriously.
"We fully support staff to report any incidents and encourage them in their pursuit of taking the perpetrators of violence against them through the justice system and offer extensive support to any member of staff who has been assaulted either physically or verbally.
"We work closely with the local police who respond extremely quickly to any calls from our staff and offer support and advice when needed."
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