The victim of an assault inside Vancouver General Hospital Thursday morning was a student nurse, according to the B.C. Nurses’ Union.
Vancouver police said they responded to the assault around 9 a.m. Officers arrived to find one person with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Police said a suspect was arrested, and that while they have been released from police custody they remain at the hospital certified under the Mental Health Act.
BC Nurses’ Union president Adriane Gear said a knife was used in the attack, and that the victim suffered puncture wounds.
“I think the incident that happened yesterday at the Vancouver General should serve as a wake-up call for health employers that they need to do more, much more, to keep staff and, frankly, patients safe,” she said.
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“Because the conditions of work for nurses are really the conditions of care for patients, and if nurses are feeling that they’re not safe in the workplace that means that they’re not feeling that their patients are safe, either.”
Gear said the student nurse is “physically OK” but traumatized by the incident.
She added if security concerns aren’t resolved for health-care workers, the province will get nowhere in its quest to recruit and retain hospital staff.
The suspect is slated to appear in court at a later date.
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