There were more than seven and a half thousand reports of assaults against Health New Zealand staff last year.

Figures released under the Official Information Act show the 7584 reports in 2025 were in line with the 7668 reported the year before, but up more than a thousand from the 6422 in 2023.

The South Island was the only region to see a drop last year compared to the year prior - the North Island's three regions all recorded ongoing increases.

When it comes to emergency departments specifically, there were 1095 reports of assault in 2025, similar to 2024 (1168), but up 74 percent from the 630 in 2023.

Health New Zealand said the increase in reported assaults is largely the result of improved reporting practices.
But Australasian College for Emergency Medicine New Zealand Chair Michael Connelly said whether or not the numbers are going up, the fact there are still reports of violence, is a concern.

"Emergency Departments are supposed to be a place of healing, there's people dedicated to trying to improve the lives of patients...we want them to be able to work in a situation and an environment that's safe for them."

Connelly said the violence experienced by those on the front line can range from verbal assaults, to threats to staff, to physical contact and physical harm.

He described EDs as "pressure cookers" and said addressing issues such as bed block might take some stress out of the situation, which could reduce some of the causes that result in these types of behaviour.

Connelly said it's not acceptable that staff are subject to them.

He said there's been a "long-standing" culture that violence is just part of ED life - but they're trying to reverse that and encourage people to report all incidents.

"Traditionally there's talk that it's too cumbersome to make the report, or nothing would be done about it - and I feel like the tide is changing in that sense."

Connelly said anything that can be done to make it easier for reporting, and also not put the onus on the victim, would be appropriate.

Funding in the past two Budgets has been put towards more security guards in emergency departments across the country, and training for staff.

Connelly said it was good move, and there has been improvement in some places.

But he said there are still are problems with smaller EDs, where the security staff might be covering the entire hospital not just ED, or aren't trained properly.

Health New Zealand Executive National Director, People & Culture and Health & Safety Robyn Shearer said no level of violence is acceptable, and staff have the right to feel safe at work.

She said the rise in reported assaults reflects that their reporting is more accurate.

"Reported incidents, while they have increased, injuries and time lost to injuries has remained stable, so this suggests earlier intervention, better de-escalation and improved response are reducing the severity of harm."

Shearer said patients may behave unpredictably for a range of reasons - clinical or otherwise, and it's not possible to completely eliminate incidents.

"We are putting in place robust processes and escalation pathways to minimise the risk of harm, and we are actively encouraging staff to report all incidents and aggression."

"Over the past three years, we've introduced more training, increased awareness and made it easier for our frontline staff to report incidents."

One of those ways is with OV readers, which have been implemented in EDs in the Northern and Te Waipounamu regions.

These allows staff to swipe that an incident has occurred, but do not differentiate when multiple staff have swiped their identity cards for the same incident.

Shearer said they're not the solution totally, because they don't capture the severity, context or contributing factors - which can be learnt from.

"We're reviewing how they fit alongside other mechanisms."

She said there can be tools and measures, but staff training is really important.

Shearer said that includes things like situational awareness, confidence to act quickly when situations escalate, communication, facility design, and vigilance around reducing violence and aggression in the workplace.