Emergency physician Dr. Alan Drummond has issued a stark warning about the surge in violent incidents plaguing Canadian hospital emergency departments, calling for urgent action amid a post-pandemic crisis.
In a recent video statement, Drummond, who practices at Perth District Hospital, highlighted a dramatic rise in assaults, including stabbings and shootings.
"You know, a number of years ago, it would be unheard of to hear people being stabbed in an Ontario hospital, and now it has happened," he said. "It happened again recently, where a security guard was stabbed. In London, Ontario, somebody took a gun and shot through the doors in the emergency department. In Nova Scotia, security officers were stabbed. In Vancouver, or at least the Lower Mainland, there was a machete attack of nurses."
The events described by Drummond reflect current trends. At Toronto's University Health Network, workplace violence in ERs increased 169% from 2019 to post-pandemic levels, rising from 0.43 to 1.15 incidents per 1,000 visits. In Ontario, workers' compensation claims for violence against nurses have nearly tripled since 2012.
A 2021 survey found nearly 70% of Ontario nurses had experienced or witnessed physical violence. Statistics Canada reports an average of 51 nurse injuries monthly from assaults nationwide.
Verified incidents underscore the peril: In March 2025, a security guard was stabbed at Belleville General Hospital in Ontario. A December 2024 shooting targeted London, Ontario's Victoria Hospital ER. January 2025 saw stabbings at Halifax Infirmary, Nova Scotia, injuring three staff.
And at B.C.'s Eagle Ridge Hospital, a patient wielded a machete against nurses that same month.
Drummond continued: "We now know that since the onset of the pandemic, that the level of violence in our healthcare settings in our emergency departments has escalated and has worsened in intensity. So we're very concerned about not only the fact that it's prevalent on a day to day basis, but is increasing, both in terms of frequency and intensity of these attacks. So it's quite alarming, and it's about long since past time that we actually did something about it."
Experts attribute the rise to factors like long wait times and mental health crises, urging enhanced security and policy reforms to protect frontline workers.