GWENT GPs are seeking top-level Govern-ment backing to help remove the danger and disruption caused by violent patients.

Sick and tired of threats posed by a tiny minority of patients - doctors and staff in Gwent have been attacked, others threatened with knives - they want Home Secretary David Blunkett to order police authorities to help the NHS set up 'safe havens' where violent patients may be treated.

Some parts of Wales, including Cardiff, Merthyr and Pontypridd, have these schemes, but others do not.

The NHS and the police are currently negotiating a scheme for Gwent - earmarked for Maindee police station in Newport - but GPs are concerned at the length of time it has taken to set up.

Gwent Local Medical Committee (LMC), which represents the area's family doctors, has asked the British Medical Association at its conference today to take up its request for Mr Blunkett to act.

"There are schemes in Wales where violent patients can be treated by a GP somewhere with a police presence. The mere fact of that police presence is a deterrent to violence," said Gwent LMC secretary Jan Candler.

"It has been very difficult to get these facilities in place. We have been seeking to set up an arrangement in Gwent.

"This has been going on for 18-24 months. We've looked at hospitals, suggested police stations.

"The plan for Maindee is ongoing. It is not set in stone, but it has been reported as a proposal to the Assembly.

"The Assembly sent out a dictat last autumn saying it wanted details of safe haven proposals across Wales by end of December, and it required schemes to be in place by March.

"The LMC has had numerous meetings with the police and the former health authority over this matter and we've got to the starting gate so many times.

"Staff at the health authority were as keen as anybody to get an agreement in place.

"The perception in the NHS is that police assistance would greatly minimise the risk of violence, but we acknowledge that the police have to consider the safety of their officers.

"We just want the Home Secretary to issue some guidelines over this, so that everyone knows what the situation is."

There are only 19 patients in Gwent listed as potentially violent towards GPs, but the potential for disruption they pose is huge.

"There have been incidents of actual violence locally, and people have been threatened with knives," said Mrs Candler.

"But the risk is not just to the GP, but their staff and often, more worryingly, other patients.