Sudbury patient kept in hospital bathroom for 13 days, MPP says

A Sudbury Ont., manrecently spent almost two weeksin a hospital bathroom while being treated for a back injury, according to a local member of provincial parliament.

FranceGelinas the Nickel Belt MPPand health critic for Ontario's NDPsays her friend and neighbour was admitted to Health Sciences North on Feb. 4 and "spent 13 days in a small, cramped bathroom with a toilet directly behind hishead."

She referred to the man only as "Leo" and said he is in his 70s. CBC News has not been able to contact him.

Photos taken byGelinasshow a hospital bed wedged into a tiled room, next to a toilet and a bathtub. Other patients were not allowed to use that bathroom during his stay, Gelinassaid.

"When I visited him, I couldn't believe where he was being forced to receive his medical care,"Gelinassaid during question period in theprovinciallegislature.

"I wondered if it was even sanitary," she added, calling on the Liberal government to address overcrowding in Ontario's hospitals, which is an especially persistent problem in the Sudbury area.

Premier KathleenWynnesaid her government is taking steps to address health-care problems in Ontario.

"It's unacceptable if there is a patient who is relegated to an inappropriate space,"Wynnesaid.

Health minister Eric Hoskins also said the province is working with individual hospitals to determine what's needed.

"We added16 new beds to Health Sciences North. We increased their budget last year by $6 million," he said.

"I'm not saying that they're not facing capacity challenges, partly because of the season that we're ina very bad flu season."

'Capacity challenges'

In a statement to CBC News, Health Sciences North CEO and president Dominic Giroux saidthe hospital is over capacity.

"Due to the high rates of influenza illness in the community this season, we have experienced a constant demand for acute care beds and maintained an average of 116 per cent occupancy since January," he said.

"We understand this is not ideal for the patient experience."

Girouxadded that 41 of HSN'scurrent patients are waiting on long-term care beds in the community.

"As our region's population ages over the next decade, this population will require more community care, rehabilitation care and long term care," he said.