Officials at a Southern Alberta hospital are investigating how a patient missing for three days ended up stuck on a maintenance floor.

Wesley Stanko went missing from the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge Sunday afternoon.

He is suffering from a condition affecting his brain and has diminished mental capacity.

Police issued a public appeal to help search for him shortly after he went missing.

But Stanko never actually left the facility.

He was discovered wedged among some steel pipes on a maintenance floor Wednesday morning.

The man was taken to the emergency department and treated for dehydration.

The hospital has now launched a review into how Stanko was able to wander off and why he wasn't found during a search.