A nurse dodging a thrown object, a doctor insulted in the waiting room, an emergency department running short-staffed after an assault: these scenes aren’t a French exception. They repeat, with the same underlying causes, across most European healthcare systems. Here’s what the figures, French and European, say about violence against caregivers (WPV, Workplace Violence, in the English-language literature on Health Care Workers, HCWs).
General data on hospital violence in France
According to the 2022 Report of the French National Observatory of Violence in Healthcare Settings (ONVS)1, reports of harm to people and property in France have been high in recent years: 19,579 reports in 2020, breaking down into 21,623 incidents, of which 17,598 concerned people directly. In 2021, the figures remain close: 19,328 reports for 21,600 incidents. A stable trend, and a stably high one, rather than an isolated spike.
Which departments are most affected?
Psychiatric units account for a disproportionate share of incidents: 22.3% of reports of harm to people in 2020, 22.2% in 20212, followed by long-term care units (USLD) and emergency departments, whose relative share dipped slightly over the period.
What types of violence?
Not all reported violence is equal. In 2020, physical violence and threats with a weapon accounted for 50.9% of incidents, insults for 29.9%2. In 2021, this breakdown shifts slightly: 46.7% for physical violence and threats with a weapon, 32.1% for insults3. This shift is worth watching: verbal violence often precedes or accompanies escalation into the physical — it’s never a non-event.
A European phenomenon, not just a French one
| Country | Incidents | Population (M) | Per 100k pop. | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 768 | 11.7 | 7 | 2024 | Federal Police |
| France | 19,000 | 68.4 | 28 | 2021 | ONVS |
| Spain | 9,000 | 47.4 | 19 | 2023 | Policía Nacional |
| Italy | 16,000 | 58.9 | 27 | 2023 | ONSEPS |
| Germany* | 6,190 | 83.1 | 7 | 2022 | Regional Criminal Police Offices |
| Netherlands | 2,942 | 17.5 | 17 | 2023 | 10 leading hospitals, via NU.nl |
| Denmark | 1,200 | 5.9 | 20 | 2021 | Danish Health Authority |
* This German figure only counts serious assaults actually reported to the authorities, likely an underestimate compared to the other countries in the table.
A word of caution is needed here: these figures come from different sources and years, with definitions of “incident” that vary from one country to another (internal report, police complaint, characterised physical assault…). The ranking gives a solid trend — France and Italy at the top, Germany and Belgium clearly behind — but shouldn’t be read as a precise, figure-for-figure comparison.
Why the rise?
Three factors come up consistently in the analyses:
Healthcare system overload.
The lack of resources and staff feeds patient frustration, which translates into aggressive behaviour. Some caregivers themselves describe a system that is itself “abusive”, an institutional violence that fuels tension upstream4.
Distrust of authority.
An underlying trend of questioning authority, including that of healthcare professionals, complicates the care relationship well before a conflict even erupts5.
Deteriorating working conditions.
Stress and growing pressure on medical teams play a direct role in escalating tension6.
What European countries are doing about it
In France, strengthening security involves concrete measures — cameras, dedicated teams. Nantes University Hospital, for example, has brought in former police officers to respond to threatening incidents6. On the training side, initiatives aim to teach caregivers to spot the early signs of rising tension5. In September 2023, a national plan created a specific offence for insulting healthcare professionals and made it easier to file a complaint7.
In the Netherlands, some institutions go further: they “blacklist” individuals identified as dangerous and ban them from hospital premises.
In the UK, the NHS Patient Safety Strategy was launched to structure the response at national scale; early results seem encouraging, though no consolidated, public data yet allow them to be precisely quantified.
In Italy, the Ministry of Health has defined, through the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN), a national framework that coordinates safety efforts while leaving each region to adapt measures to its local context.
Conclusion
Violence in European hospitals is a complex issue that isn’t solved by more cameras alone, nor by more training alone. Improving working conditions, training teams to spot and defuse tension, and giving victims a genuine legal framework: these are the three combined levers, not just one, that are shaping, country by country, a safer environment for both caregivers and patients.