Spend more on cleaning staff in hospitals, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions tells province

The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions doesn't think your hospital is clean enough.

The council — the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees — is asking the province for more funding for environmental cleaners and infection control specialists.

Without more staff, the council worries hospital-acquired infections will become harder to control.

"Health Sciences North is actually a poster child for over-crowding and for the inadequacy for the hospital system," said council president Michael Hurley.

"Especially in the face of a problem like the flu."

Hurley noted that a history of hospital restructuring and funding cuts has created some of the worst conditions for patients.

"You've got a host of problems in the northeast, which causes people to overwhelm a hospital system," he said.

The council is in Sudbury later this afternoon, and will tour other northern communities like Espanola and Timmins during the rest of the week.