Janet Knox stopped short of calling the Victoria General Hospital dirty, but the Nova Scotia Health Authority President and CEO has ordered a deep clean of the entire Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.
The order comes days after Edmonton resident Shelley Vaughan filed a complaint about the state of the hospital, where she stayed to donate a kidney in November.
“The floors were filthy,” she explains. “There was debris all over the floors, from the time I was in, my whole stay.”
Vaughan says that was just one of the many issues she found, including undrinkable water.
Another VG patient sent CTV News photos of inside the old hospital, which she says show a buildup of dirt and grime in patient rooms.
The health authority says extra cleaning has already begun.
Patients may not even notice the deep clean is underway.
Officials say it won’t result in any shutdowns or disruptions, it will simply entail bringing in more staff to do a more thorough clean.
Gordon Loomis is president of a janitorial company in Halifax.
He isn’t responsible for the VG but he is trained in hospital cleaning protocols.
He cautions, just because a building is rundown, doesn’t mean it’s unsanitary.
“The procedures that are done on a daily basis at any hospital are adequate to maintain the premise at a healthy level,” he explains.
Cleaning staff at the QEII are hired on contract from Compass Group Canada.
CTV News requested a comment but has yet to receive a reply.
“People are working very hard there,” says Janet Knox. “So I wouldn’t want it to be construed that we think our people are not doing what needs to be done.”
Still, Vaughan says the standard needs to be higher.
“It’s not what you expect when you go to a hospital,” she says. “You want it clean.”
The health authority says it will be monitoring the situation at the VG closely to see if staffing levels should be changed.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie.
