A man wielding a knife chased a group of nurses down a hallway at Burnaby General Hospital last week, part of a disturbing trend in health-care violence that has the Opposition public safety critic calling for metal detectors and dedicated police officers at hospitals.

The man was in a shared room in a unit where elderly patients awaiting assisted living stay, when he tried to punch a nurse, pulled out a knife and chased three nurses down the hall while waving the knife at them, according to the nurses’ union.

The nurses were terrified, both from the incident and also the fact there was no nursing station or safe room for them to hide in during the attack.

The man was eventually tackled by relational security officers, and is believed to have suffered a head injury. Meanwhile, all three nurses reported time lost due to a violent incident to the Workers Compensation Board, and one suffered a psychological injury impacting their physical health, according to the union.

It’s the latest in a long line of rising violence at hospitals and health-care centres, with the union saying incidents like this are now occurring almost weekly. A nurse was choked unconscious by a patient in a psychiatric ward at Vancouver General Hospital in March, and a patient at a Port Moody........

© BIV