For instance, it has been alleged that SNC Lavalin, the Quebec-based construction giant that heads the consortium awarded the contract to build the hospital as a public-private partnership, has made payments to shadowy intermediaries to win contracts in various countries where the firm is active — including the MUHC contract.

the firm hired to excavate the land at the hospital’s Glen Yard site, Louisbourg SBC SEC, was headed by construction magnate Tony Accurso, who currently faces charges of fraud, corruption, bribery and conspiracy. His firms have previously been guilty of tax evasion.

Then there is the strange case of Dr. Arthur Porter. The former chief executive officer of the MUHC could be helpful in explaining what has gone on with the hospital process, but he left the country late last year shortly after some questionable dealings of his own came to light

Further investigation into the matter by The Gazette’s Aaron Derfel has revealed a number of anomalies in the bidding process.

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Carson estimated that 60 to 70 per cent of St. Joseph's operating budget is labour. That leaves just 30 to 40 per cent for supplies, which is typical for most hospitals, she says. Of that, about one per cent is spent on food: a bare-bones budget of $7.43 to cover three meals and two snacks per patient, per day.

Carson said she prepared simple meals relying on cheaper whole ingredients, buying canned tomatoes and raw onions and garlic, instead of more expensive frozen prepared pasta sauce.

"Our cooks are feeling really proud of what they're producing and creating,"

Working with raw ingredients also made it easier to avoid things like gluten, salt, dyes, allergens or other contaminants that could harm individual patients

say you have all the Toronto hospitals buying their lettuce from some supplier in California and there's a problem with salmonella or something. That could be really bad."

According to an outbreak analysis by the Public Health Agency of Canada, almost 80 per cent of confirmed cases lived in a long-term care home, or were admitted to a hospital that had served deli meats taken from large packages.

In early 2012, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care produced a report on food service in Ontario hospitals and LTCs that looked specifically at the challenges and opportunities of incorporating local foods. It surveyed 137 food service managers, representing 16.7 per cent of the food service departments in all the hospitals and LTCs in Ontario. Food services managers placed safety at the top of their priorities (100 per cent). It was closely followed by nutrition (97 per cent); sensory qualities, like texture and temperature (97 per cent); and low cost (88 per cent). Least important to Ontario hospital food managers, according to the survey, were fairness or fair trade in product sourcing (30 per cent); food origin (24 per cent); and "naturalness" (15 per cent).

Eighteen per cent of acute-care hospital administrators reported using conventional cooking methods for patient meals "most" (80 to 100 per cent) of the time, while 70 per cent of long-term care administrators reported doing so.

Brendan Wylie-Toal, Sustainable Food Manager for the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care

This article was produced by Tyee Solutions Society with funding provided by the Hospital Employees Union (HEU).

food that accounted for nearly half (43 per cent) of its $194 million spending in 2011/2012

A year after it was created, the Lower Mainland BISS contracted out patient food services and house cleaning operations, both to Sodexo

10-year, $330-million agreement

Sodexo is responsible for conducting audits and surveys

a 2008 independent survey of patient experiences in acute care across all VCH facilities reported a dismal 52 per cent for "overall quality of food"

The glowing audits had been done by Sodexo's own kitchen staff

getting awarded these contracts is very competitive. Providing recipes opens the door to determining food costs and therefore profits.

Nor does Sodexo reveal its suppliers for specific clients.

there's zero accountability,"

"There's no traceability

"There's a reason why hospital food feels like it's sort of a last frontier in the good food movement. And I think it is in part due to the fact that it is the place where some of the stickiest, deepest, dirtiest corporate contracts exist."

in 2011, Sodexo paid $20 million to settle an accusation of fraud levied against it by the state of New York.

former Sodexo managers turned whistle-blowers, claimed that the company had pressured its suppliers for huge "off-invoice" rebates that were never shared with its clients.

The New York State Attorney General's office investigated, and found that Sodexo had in fact failed to disclose supplier rebates it received, and to pass the savings on to state facilities, including a treatment centre for at-risk youth and a service organization for developmentally disabled children, as its contract required.

Sodexo has "vendor discount agreements;" discounts on based on large-volume orders. "But there is nothing in our contracts to say that clients are entitled to that,"

Vancouver Coastal Health has actually reduced the reporting it requires from Sodexo. A Freedom of Information request showed that VCHA does not collect food purchase records from Sodexo, an item of information the original contract required.

Neither are there any records available for patient tray audits.

"While this documentation is indeed a requirement in our agreement with Sodexo, it is one that we ourselves have waived."

"patient food user committee." VCHA's 2004 contract with Sodexo stipulated that each of its facilities would set up such a body to provide ongoing patient input and feedback.

UBC Hospital never created the envisioned committee to seek patients’ views

possible to reduce or withdraw the drugs from more than 60 per cent of patients

Opposition Liberal health critic Bill Fraser said there are many questions about the private clinic, including what kind of oversight and safety practices the province will be enforcing.

"This is a major piece of equipment, and it is not without health concerns both in sighting, installation and use of the magnet," said Whelan, chief of diagnostic imaging at the Saint John Regional Hospital.

Knight said he's not sure there is much need in New Brunswick for the private service. The New Brunswick government has recently invested in the purchase of five smaller 1.5 MRI machines for hospitals across the province. As well, it is looking at buying 3T MRIs for the Saint John Regional and the Moncton Hospital.

Who OK'd the use of this in the province? Did the private operators have to jump through the same kind of hoops we have to go through in the hospital?"

"We have 70 per cent of patients who can get diagnostic imaging access within one month, according to data from the New Brunswick Health Council. We also know that patients who are the sickest get care immediately, including MRI scans. So it's the less urgent cases who will be pursuing this private service."

The clinic's clients must have a referral for a scan from a doctor.

will employ four full-time technicians and one nurse

It is a client's doctor who makes the final diagnosis and determines with the patient where to go from there.

A private MRI clinic has been operating in Nova Scotia for almost 10 years. Across Canada, there are at least 40 for-profit magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) clinics.

The warning, issued in the chief coroner’s 2009 report on geriatric and long-term care, was the first of many red flags raised about the program.

During much of that time, Prince of Wales was unlicensed, meaning it was not controlled by the Ontario government and was not required to have trained medical staff — or the appropriate equipment and facilities — to look after elderly patients needing round-the-clock care.

I trusted the hospital when they told us it would be the same care as a nursing home.”

A coroner’s report into her death determined that given Coates’s fragile condition the hospital should not have moved her to Prince of Wales in the first place. That’s because the home did not have the facilities, expertise or services to provide nursing-home level care, the report concluded.

“I want caregivers to be careful about assuming that the health-care system has their best interests at heart.”

the inmate had not received his psychotropic medication for the entire month

a nurse hired by Wexford contaminated a vial of insulin, potentially exposing roughly 100 inmates at the state prison in Buckeye to hepatitis C

a known case of whooping cough, a reportable infectious disease, went unreported to DOC staff and Wexford’s state-level management for 30 days

expired prescription(s) and inappropriate renewals or refills

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation report found that privately-run health care programs in prisons often lead to “inhumane” conditions as officials work to cut costs and skimp on inmates’ care.

“For the last decade, the Alberta government has been trying to get out of the business of seniors care and pass it off to the private sector,” said Roberts.  “The decision to cap funding for lodges was part of that strategy – let public facilities crumble and push seniors to more and more costly private options.”