Nurses continue push for increased security after incident at St. Paul’s Hospital

Nurses are continuing to fight for more security measures after an incident in Saskatoon’s St. Paul’s Hospital on Nov. 27th.

In a Facebook post highlighting the need for more security, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) explains a patient concealing a sawed-off shotgun, multiple rounds of ammunition, and three knives had entered St. Paul’s Hospital.

He asked to use the washroom before being taken to a psychiatric hold room, when a custodian later found the shotgun inside the bathroom. After a pat-down, security found one knife on the man as he became more violent.

The man was contained in a room until police arrived, where he had two more knives and began stabbing an inner window while threating staff with violence and sexual assault.

SUN says they are seeing cases like this often and St. Paul’s is in need of metal detectors. A metal detector was purchased for the hospital months ago, but it was moved to another facility due to the layout of the hospital and a lack of security officers.

Nurses are calling on the government, saying they need metal detectors and to increase security features such as security officers, cameras, and policies to ensure the safety of patients and hospital staff.

The SHA responded with a statement saying health systems across Canada have seen an increase in violent incidents and they are committed to providing a safe environment for patients and health care teams.

The SHA also stated that with an increase to the 2025-26 provincial budget, they are piloting the use of AI-assisted weapons detection technology in the Royal University Hospital.