Saint John Regional Hospital photos show dirty rooms

The Horizon Health network admits photos of a dirty hospital room show it is not keeping its facilities clean.

In fact, the network's own survey of patients found 40 per cent were not satisfied with the condition of their rooms.

Andrea Seymour, Horizons vice-president, said the photos of the filthy patient unit at Saint John Regional Hospital show the problem.

This one here does show a lack of cleanliness, she said.

"Am I surprised? No I'm not, because we have heard four out of ten patients in our survey say they're not satisfied with the cleanliness of the room."

Seymour points to aging hospitals, a lack of training and possibly a shortage of supervisors to inspect rooms and work with cleaning staff. She says they'reworking on the problem.

This week, a team of experts from Ontario's Niagara Health Services is in the province inspecting the three largest hospitals.

We've got good staff who do a good job every day, but we haven't necessarilygiven them all the tools and training that they need.- Andrea Seymour

They're doing 19-point inspections, including bacteria swabs in patient rooms. They'll prepare a report and then work with Horizon to come up with a plan to measure cleanliness and deal with it.

Last year, retired nurse Penny Ericson spoke out. Her husband spent time in Fredericton's Doctor Everett Chalmers Hospital before his death. She identified a long list of problems with nursing care and cleanliness.

"I came away very saddened by what I see as a serious drop in the quality of care given at the hospital, she said

Ericson's report rocked Horizon Health, which vowed to do better.

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Seymoursays they have been hard at work on the problem ever since. She claims there are no health issues with patients rooms in Saint John, even though there's obviously a need for better cleaning and maintenance.

"We've got good staff who do a good job every day but we haven't necessarily given them all of the tools and all of the training that they need, she said.

The Niagara team will prepare a report on its review of New Brunswick hospitals, and Horizon promises it will be made public.