SECURITY guards at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital have tackled patients carrying a machete, an axe and replica guns, a source close to the security department has revealed.

The source, who did not want to be identified, compared securing the hospital to "policing a small town".

We reported on Saturday that attacks by patients on nurses and doctors at the hospital were increasing.

Newport Central police said they had been called to the accident and emergency unit 13 times in three months.

But our source said: "Security deals with at least 20 times more incidents than the police get called to.

"The police are only called when the person causing trouble isn't going to give in, otherwise they'd be there ten times a day.

"These security guards are going in bare-handed. All they are equipped with is a radio. They don't know what they're going in to.

"They could find they're armed with a knife or razors.

"People have come in with a machete or an axe, and there have been people with replica guns.

"I can see it on the cards, at some point, someone getting seriously hurt. "They are dealing with the same situations as the police, but without the back-up of the law.

"The police come in with body armour, batons, CS gas and handcuffs. "Security guards are not even allowed to carry a staff."

The source explained: "A lot of it is confused patients who become violent, and it's not their fault. That's expected and it's dealt with.

"They're generally restrained until they're sectioned or sedated.

"But on occasions patients are violent for different reasons. They are aggressive by nature or are not happy with their treatment.

"In the main it's people who are drunk or on drugs.

"Most of the time they can be talked down, but occasionally it will break out and somebody will attack a nurse or a doctor, and that person has got to be restrained until the police arrive.

"The police are very good 90 per cent of the time and respond in minutes. The rest of the time they can't respond because they haven't got a bobby available.

"They could do with a policeman stationed in the hospital. It's like policing a small town."

He said the hospital had spent a lot of cash on upgrading the security system, but it was still not enough.

"There's a very sophisticated control room. A lot of money has been spent on security, especially cameras, but there's limited resources.

"They don't skimp on security, but it's still not enough."