A teenager has admitted attacking two members of staff at a hospital for patients with mental health problems.

David Thompson, 18, racially abused one of the nurses before biting his arm at Fromeside clinic at Blackberry Hill Hospital in Fishponds.

Bristol magistrates heard Thompson got into a scuffle with the two nurses after they refused to allow him to go outside to smoke a cigarette.

Thompson, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to one charge of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one charge of assault.

Kirsty Allman, prosecuting, said Thompson was serving a 28-month prison sentence when he developed mental health problems and was transferred to Fromeside clinic.

She said Thompson and another patient became disruptive when the nurses denied them permission to go outside to smoke a cigarette at 1am on Sunday.

Ms Allman said Thompson smashed the receiver of a public telephone against the wall, began knocking on other patients' doors to wake them and warned the nurses he would kill them if they came out of their office.

When the nurses came out to calm the patients, a male nurse was racially abused and a punch was thrown towards a female nurse by Thompson before a struggle broke out. The court heard the female nurse felt a blow to her head before she was punched and sent flying into a wall. The male nurse then tried to restrain Thompson, but he bit him on the elbow and spat in his face, magistrates were told.

A statement from the male nurse said: "I'm used to dealing with service users and used to dealing with aggression but I don't expect to be assaulted or abused. I've never experienced this sort of violence in the 24 years I've worked in the hospital."

In his interview with police, Thompson said he was not a racist but used abusive words in the heat of the moment.

Diane Hayes, defending, said Thompson was moved from Ashfield Young Offenders' Institute to the clinic and was due to be released in March next year. She said he had asked nurses for a cigarette so he could calm himself down after he had been told he could not take his medication early. Ms Hayes said: "He just lost it and he accepts that. He's expressed remorse."

Thompson will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on November 23.