A woman who suffers from multiple sclerosis and was unable to use adequate toilet and washing facilities for 37 days while an in-patient in the Mater hospital said it was "disgraceful" that the only things she was offered were nappies.

Catherine Corwell was speaking after she won a discrimination case against the Dublin hospital. She has called on the Mater to "find the funds so that wheelchair users can be accommodated properly and treated like everyone else".

Equality officer Tara Coogan awarded Corwell the maximum possible award of €6,348 after she found the Mater had discriminated against Corwell in that they treated her less favourably than a person without a disability.

"I do not accept that a catheter nor nappies, in the circumstances of this case, can be seen as special treatment," said Coogan in her judgment, before going on to order the Mater to ensure wheelchair accessible toilets are not restricted by keypads or locks.

In August 2006, Corwell was admitted to the hospital suffering from pleurisy and pneumonia. A catheter was inserted when she was admitted but, contrary to medical advice, it was not removed until she was discharged over five weeks later because she was denied access to wheelchair accessible toilets.

Corwell said her room had an en suite bathroom but she was unable to use it because of space limitations. When she enquired about wheelchair accessible toilets she was shown a toilet on the corridor but this was locked with a notice stating "staff only".

When the staff member opened it she noticed there were no handrails and the toilet bowl was not the required height.

Corwell was then told there were other wheelchair toilets on the ground floor but she pointed out that she suffered from bladder weakness and was in a room on the fifth floor so accessing them would be impossible. She later found out even these toilets were closed in the evening for security reasons.

In subsequent outpatient visits, Corwell found that a wheelchair accessible toilet on the ground floor had been decommissioned and reserved for staff use only.

The Mater explained this was because staff working in the canteen by law had to have access to a toilet. The hospital spokesman confirmed that three years later this is still the case.

In terms of shower facilities, Corwell again pointed out that the shower unit in her room was not accessible.

"I had to sponge myself down over a small sink with just the plastic curtain for privacy. It was terrible," she explained.

"It was so bad that, again against medical advice, I had to go home one weekend to get a proper shower."

A hospital spokesman said the Mater "has taken and continues to take steps to render toilets more accessible where possible".

But he confirmed three years later due to "infrastructural limitations there is very little than can be done by the Mater".

He added that a new development at the hospital – construction of which began last month – will include 120 single rooms, a new A&E department, outpatients department and 12 new operating theatres.

"These facilities will be fully accessible when completed and all future projects will be fully wheelchair accessible," the spokesman said, adding that the new faculty would be ready by 2011.

But this is too late for Corwell who stressed that she took the case not for the money but on behalf of the hundreds of wheelchair users who have to endure such treatment.

"The hospital staff were brilliant and did all they could. But I was treated unfairly and strongly believed that people needed to sit up and take notice," said Cornwell.