Health workers at the Mater Hospital in north Belfast have publicly protested at the continuing loyalist intimidation of staff members.
The hospital management called on the local community and political representatives yesterday to help eradicate the problem.
Ms Patricia McKeown, regional director of UNISON, the public sector union which organised the lunchtime protest, said that up to 200 staff members, from both communities, including doctors, nurses, support staff and management, participated.
"They took a brave act and went public to make it perfectly clear that they refuse to accept threats, intimidation or attacks and that they most certainly do not accept sectarianism," she said.
Two weeks ago, the RUC informed staff that they were under a loyalist paramilitary threat. There were subsequent claims that loyalists were accessing the hospital computer system.
A group of men attempted to abduct a worker close to the Antrim Road as he walked to the hospital last Sunday.
The chief executive of the Mater Hospital Trust, Ms Patricia Gordon, said she regretted that the verbal and physical abuse suffered by staff in the past persisted.
"I call upon the local community and all local representatives to assist us to eradicate this problem and to support the caring ethos of this hospital," she said.
The Sinn Fein MLA for North Belfast, Mr Gerry Kelly, said the staff was correct to highlight the situation. He blamed the UDA.
The SDLP health spokeswoman, Ms Annie Courtney, said a violent incident at the Royal Victoria Hospital on Wednesday was also cause for concern.
Two men, one armed with a handgun, beat a plumber working in an accommodation unit at the hospital after he intervened in a robbery. A gun was put to the victim's head and the trigger pulled several times, but it did not discharge.
"This kind of attack on health staff is utterly intolerable. We must do all that can be done to ensure that this kind of attack does not happen again," she said.
Ms Courtney said a recent attack on a social worker in Derry also pointed to a worrying trend.