Ontario hospital files $100-million lawsuit claiming shoddy construction, like uneven floors, putting patient safety at risk

Humber River hospital in Toronto is suing private partner Plenary Group, alleging poor construction and lack of maintenance. Adrian Ghobrial reports.

In a $100-million lawsuit, Humber River Health claims that recent shoddy construction has left the floors uneven or bubbling in nearly every wing of the hospital, putting the health and safety of patients and staff at risk.

The Toronto hospital, which claims to be North America’s first fully digital facility, is suing the consortium contracted to build and maintain the facility.

The statement of claim, obtained by CTV National News, lists Plenary Health Care Partnerships Humber L.P. as the defendant.

The Director of the University of Toronto’s Infrastructure Institute, Matti Siemiatycki, believes this is an issue “every Ontarian should be concerned with. This is (only) a 10-year-old hospital.”

Construction on the Humber River Health complex began in 2011 through a public-private partnership with Plenary Health Care Partnerships. The Ontario Government signed Plenary and the consortium to build and maintain the hospital for the next three decades.

On its website, Plenary Group is described as a leading independent long-term investor, developer and operator of public infrastructure, with a global presence.

In Humber River Health’s statement of claim against the consortium, it says that uneven floors have made it “difficult for staff to move equipment, supplies, food, and patients on wheeled transportation devices. Often, wheeled carts have to be placed behind rubber stoppers to prevent the carts from sliding out of position.”

The “potential root causes” listed in the statement claim include “installation of the concrete floor slabs by Project Co, and PCL and its subcontractors,” and the “improper levelling of the concrete floor slabs prior to the installation of finish flooring.”

The claim also says that there’s “bubbling and tearing of the rubber flooring in nearly every area of the hospital, including the emergency department, birthing unit, and patient recovery rooms.”

Siemiatycki shares that “the key is that the risks that were supposed to be managed and transferred to the private sector have not resided there, they’ve ended up boomeranging back and the public is bearing the cost for it.”

Among their list of projects, CTV News has learned that Plenary has also been contracted by the Province of Ontario to build, design and operate aspects of a new subway line currently under construction in Toronto.

Siemiatycki believes the fact that this is going to litigation shows that there are aspects of the public-private partnership framework that aren’t working.

“To see now that this is going to litigation instead of the public-private partnership itself (working this out) is really at the core of this issue. Things do happen in a construction project, that’s not abnormal. What is abnormal is this resolution process. A public-private partnership is meant to avoid litigation because there’s terms in the contracts that should simply kick-in allowing Ontarians to receive the care they’ve paid for with their tax dollars and deserve,” says Siemiatycki.

Plenary declined CTV News’s request for comment today, as did Humber River Health and Ontario’s Ministry of Health, saying the matter is before the courts.