Patients at the Halifax Infirmary are complaining about a lack of hot water in some areas of the hospital.

Some staff have been forced to heat water with kettles, CBC News was told Saturday by someone who didn't want to be identified. But others are speaking publicly.

"There's no hot water at anytime of the day or night," according to Frank Webster, who's been a patient at the hospital for several weeks.

He's a diabetic who recently had a foot amputated and says on his unit there's been no hot water for a while.

"It's very lukewarm, like you can hardly feel the heat in the water … I'm going to say probably four to five weeks," Webster said.

Susan Garnham's husband was admitted to the Infirmary this week, and says a nurse looking after him made a joke about it.

"She said he bathed in cold water this morning. I didn't think it was very funny, but whatever. They haven't had hot water since he came in here on Monday," Garnham said.

Peter Graham, a spokesman for the Capital District Health Authority, confirms there are issues with hot water in parts of the hospital and they are working on fixing the problem.

"There have been issues related to water pressure and so some hot water is going into the cold water system and some cold water is going into the hot water," he said Saturday.

Only a few units in the hospital have been affected and some toilets have been filling with hot water, Graham says.

He says a part is on order and the problem will be fixed as soon as it arrives.

When it does arrive it means the hospital will have to go through a partial water shutdown.

Graham said the hospital administration won't take that measure lightly, because of the hospital's size; a lot of planning will have to be put in place before they execute the shutdown.