A 35-year-old London, Ont., man is facing charges including aggravated assault after police allege a staff member at London Health Sciences Centre was seriously injured by a man armed with a knife and hammer.
The incident happened shortly before 2 p.m. Thursday at Victoria Hospital in the city’s south end, police said.
A man was observed by a witness entering the hospital, passing the front desk checkpoint and approaching a male employee who was not known to him, police said.
Hospital security was notified, and it’s alleged the suspect struck the staff member with a hammer and then assaulted him with a knife.
The victim, who suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, got away from the man, who was taken into custody by hospital security and later turned over to city police.
Matthew James Brooks, 35, faces a charge of aggravated assault, and two counts of failing to comply with an undertaking. Brooks is set to appear in court Friday.
Court records show two other active files at the London courthouse for Brooks, including one from mid-February for a charge of making a false fire alarm by phone, and one from late February for a charge of break and enter and theft involving a home on Waverly Place.
Brooks is due back in court on May 9 for all three matters.
No further information has been released.
In a statement, LHSC said hospital security responded to a code white incident at Victoria Hospital, referring to the emergency response for a violent person.
“Security responded quickly to ensure there was no further threat to anyone within LHSC,” the statement read. No patients were harmed, the hospital said.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe when they come to work and LHSC is taking this situation very seriously. At this time, we are focusing on the wellness of our staff and physicians, recognizing the impact this incident may have on them.”
Global News reached out to multiple unions representing LHSC staff for comment on Friday.
The head of the union local representing roughly 3,400 registered nurses at LHSC said that while Thursday’s incident did not involve one of their members, it comes at a time of what he says is increasing severity in workplace violence involving members of the public.
“At (Ontario Nurses Association), we’ve been sounding the alarm, and there’s little to nothing being done about it,” said James Gibbons, president of ONA Local 100.
Gibbons said the union has been advocating for better training for members and stronger plans of care for those who frequent LHSC’s facilities, and that nurses are being attacked on a daily basis with little to no repercussions.
“There’s hardly ever charges laid, even when we do call (London police), and that’s a problem,” he said.
“We’ve gone through the Ministry of Labour … But so often, orders aren’t written, charges are never laid. And we just continue. This is something that in my 24-year nursing career, I’ve never seen it this big of a problem as what we’re seeing now.”
The remedy, he says, is often to just escort the party off of the property.
“(We’re) also dealing with a lot of these patients coming into our emerg departments. (London police) is overworked, and basically they’re being dropped at the front door. And when these patients are being discharged, we can’t get them out of our emerg departments.”
Gibbons said a particular concern is the increasing severity of the incidents being reported, including more “weapons of opportunity,” or improvised weapons, being used toward members.
For its part, he says LHSC has committed to better training and education for members, and has tried to increase security coverage in the organization. However, he says weapons of opportunity continue to be a challenge.
“We can look at things like metal detectors in our emergency departments. That has been proposed. But that doesn’t prevent all weapons of opportunity from getting in,” he said.
— with files from Sawyer Bogdan