New numbers from Shared Health are shedding light on the number of items detected by AI scanners installed last year to improve hospital safety, and the union representing nurses in Manitoba want to see the technology expanded to other hospitals. According to a spokesperson for the provincial health authority, 1,973 items were detected by the weapon scanners at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre between March 6, 2025 and Aug. 2, 2026. The scanners were installed to address safety concerns at the hospital. Items detected included knives, multi-tools, box cutters, drugs and alcohol. “The technology is designed to identify a wide range of objects that may require review under site safety protocols,” the spokesperson said, noting it has also flagged medical items such as syringes. Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses’ Union, said the scanners have been helpful at HSC. “They have certainly detected a lot of weapons that would have gotten into the department,” she said on Monday. However, Jackson notes she has been hearing and seeing concerns about weapons at other hospitals. She cited several incidents, including a stabbing and shots fired at Thompson General Hospital in the past two years. “We are seeing increasing numbers of weapons coming into other facilities and we’ve had lots of safety issues in our hospitals in Winnipeg and outside of the city,” she said. “I think it pays to have a weapons detector in the facility, so that anyone coming into that facility has to go through it.” Jackson said while safety has improved at the Health Sciences Centre, the facility will remain grey-listed unless the hospital agrees to not remove the safety initiatives in place.
