There were almost 8,700 assaults on health staff last year, according to new freedom of information figures.
6,900 were direct physical attacks, while 1,707 were verbal and 60 were sexual assaults.
Almost half of the victims were nurses.
Deputy general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, David Hughes, says some of the assaults were quite serious, with a number of incidents involving knives and in one case, staff were threatened with a gun.
