According to an annual report from Guelph General Hospital's board of directors, the hospital ran at a deficit of $1.5 million last year.

“You’ve already got a problem in the Guelph hospital in terms of waiting for care, being cared for in hallways, and being sent home when you're not well enough to be sent home,” Hurley says.

A spokesperson at Guelph General Hospital was reached on Thursday but did not provide any comment. They said Marianne Walker, the hospital's president and CEO, would be available for comment on Friday.

The hospital's annual report states the facility is already running “more beds than they are staffed or budgeted for.”

Hurley says this problem will likely continue to grow.

“You’re going to see greater and greater numbers of people receiving care in inappropriate surroundings like hallways, or solariums or broom closets,” he says.

While the province has stated they will add about 30,000 long-term care (LTC) beds, the report from OCHU says this won’t be enough in the face of the rapid growth of the 75-plus population.

“Indeed, it will not make up for any portion of the decline in LTC capacity between 2004 and 2018 when the 85 and older population grew twenty times faster than the bed supply,” the OCHU report reads.

The ministry spokesperson said in their email that $72 million of the allotted budget increase will be dedicated to the long-term care sector to expand and improve bed capacity.

Hurley says the over-75 population is expected to double in the next five years, the over-85 population will triple and the over-90 population will quadruple, something the ministry isn't accounting for.

He notes Ontario has the worst beds/staff to population ratio of any province, or country with a developed economy.

“People who are residents there do not get anywhere near the level of attention that they should. And they would if they were in another province in Canada or born in another country,” he says.

“And that is really shameful to be honest.”