A doctor was stabbed in a west London hospital by a "smirking patient brandishing a big knife".
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, police rushed to Hillingdon Hospital after receiving reports of a stabbing at the facility.
Officers were already responding to another incident in A&E, but rushed to the scene to apprehend the attacker.
The doctor, said to be a man in his 50s, survived the ordeal.
A 27-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm in connection with the attack.
One witness who saw the incident unfold told The Sun he had seen the suspect attacking the medic with a "big knife" on the floor of the unit.
He said: “He was smirking while he was stabbing him.
“The police were there in less than a minute when they got him and walked him past me, the bloke smiled at me.”
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, police rushed to Hillingdon Hospital after receiving reports of a stabbing incident
|Meanwhile, a source told the newspaper the doctor was "very lucky" that officers had already been on the scene.
They added: “The police managed to bring the knifeman under control. They were heroes."
Following the attack, the doctor was taken for treatment at the hospital, and his condition has been deemed "not to be life-threatening or life-changing", police said.
A Met Police spokesman said: “A man has been arrested after a doctor was stabbed at Hillingdon Hospital.
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One source said the doctor was 'very lucky' that Met Police officers had already been on the scene
| GETTY“Police officers, who were at the hospital following a separate report, responded at around 2.40hrs on Tuesday, 26 May after a man stabbed a doctor.
“A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
“A man in his 50s was treated for his wounds at hospital. His condition has been deemed not to be life-threatening or life-changing.
“Anyone with information that could help police should call 101 quoting CAD 926/25May.”
The number of cases of violence against NHS staff almost doubled in the five years up to 2024 (file photo)
| GETTYA spokesman for the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We continue to support and reassure our staff following this incident.
“The safety and well-being of our staff is our highest priority and any form of violence or aggression towards our teams is unacceptable."
According to data from 89 trusts in England, the number of cases of violence against NHS staff almost doubled in the five years up to 2024 - from 2,093 in 2019 to 4,054.
Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary at the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Behind these shocking figures lies an ugly truth.
"Dedicated and hard-working nursing staff face rising violent attacks because of systemic failures that are no fault of their own.
"Every incident is unacceptable, but we need ministers and trust leaders to acknowledge some of the key underlying causes.”
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