The case involving 19-year-old Andrew Stephen is just one example of the violence and foul language which nurses and doctors now suffer from some patients at Princess Margaret Hospital's accident and emergency unit.

Abuse such as this is now a regular occurrence, and the hospital is right to have introduced a policy of zero tolerance.

Zero, however, must mean exactly that. People who threaten, swear and hit out at staff who work there because they want to help the sick and injured must be left in no doubt that they will have the book thrown at them.

It is irrelevant that many abusers are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. That is absolutely no excuse.

The case of Stephen, who is believed to have swallowed three Ecstasy tablets and was barely conscious when he was admitted to A & E, should be a powerful warning to every lout and hooligan with a sore head who thinks that nurses and doctors are fair game for abuse.

Hospital staff, who are under-rewarded for the job which they do, have the right to the best protection which the hospital service can give them and prevention is better than cure.

We hope that for people who think they have a right to abuse hospital staff this case will be a salutary lesson that they won't be allowed to get away with it.