Toronto East General Hospital

Unfortunately my visits are limited primarily to the emergency department, for professional reasons which I won’t disclose. Therefore this review is about the Emerg Dept primarily.
This hospital is a pass, and not anything to terribly fancy as far as hospitals go. Some hospitals to a name a few (North York, Sunnybrooke, Mt Sinai, Sick Kids) have a much better layout and are more modern.
Their emergency department was recently renovated in recent years, primarily in the triage area. It is clean, bright, efficient and generally gives off a sensation of warmth. You’ll have to first check in with a clerk providing some screening info (travel, fever, cough — basically contagious disease screening) prior to seeing the nurse. Staff are generally friendly, although you might have to wait to get seen by triage (unless you’re dying). Overall the department is pretty good. This is dependent of course on your personal opinion of how you feel your treatment goes. Generally the staff are really pleasant, but most definitely competent which is really the only thing that matters. This is a teaching hospital, related to U of T.
The main entrance to emerg is off of Mortimer, for paramedics and their patients as well as emerg patients and patrons. There is no access to the rest of the hospital through the emerg entrance, and the public might see this as being the public entrance. Beware!
What would also be nice to see is 24 hour access to food and Java. East Gen does have a Tim Hortons, that is only open until 11 I believe, but I don’t believe it’s 24 hours. There is also a Subway open also until 11 I believe, a mini café, pizza shop, and gift shop. You’ll probably get access to these areas if you ask the clerk while visiting family (if you’re in emerg).
Getting to the rest of the hospital; its old, but appears functional as I’m sure the MOH ensures this.
Overall a decent hospital just not very modern, and has some architectural challenges and short-​comings.

Really gross hospital and not one of most hygienic places to go to; the building is old and creepy; it’s also outdated as well.
The lunch canteen could use an upgrade too and the food is not appealing. My husband says a friend stayed here at the ER and was a completed waste of service.

Suffers enormously from the same negligent malaise that endangers patients in the worst possible way. Staff are asleep at the wheel. Receptionists socialize at the expense of patients waiting to be seen. Be prepared to wait. If you have an appointment, be sure to show up at least an hour early. Found this out the hard way.

Not much to look at on the outside. But this hospital prides itself with being baby-​friendly (as designated by the world health organization). It can be confusing, but I do find that they are constantly looking for ways to improve their processes. I think that’s something that’s pretty positive. I’ve received some good care here, so I can’t complain.

I’m not going to get too much into patient care.
The hospital lacks basic cleanliness (open drywall damage, improper cleaning of floors, sinks and tubs).
The hospital does not offer many basics that other hospitals offer. Wifi, access to the internet.
In the birthing center, they overtly say they do not support the mothers birthing partner. No bed, no couch, no chair. There is a bench, but it is in such poor shape and lacks cleanliness. Also, no pillow or blanket for the birthing partner.
Furniture in the room is extremely dangerous for anyone holding a baby. One Chair broke to pieces when sat in (weight jokes aside, she was 180 lbs maybe). The second chair in the room, was in similar shape.
House keeping will not clean your room. They come at 3am to empty garbages only. Once they woke us up to comment on our garbage after it wasn’t changed in 24 hours.
This is a teaching hospital, which seems to translate to: focus on the teaching, look what’s happening with the patient. The care was good, don’t get me wrong. But we were made to felt like if we tried to make my wife’s care a first priority we would pay later.
The induction facilities are horrible in comparison to other hospitals in the province.
You have to pay for supplies for your care, while in care.
Your have to pay for diapers while in care.
Family and friends are not able to even sit in the waiting room prior to an after hours birth. (Our biggest gripe)
At the end of our stay, we received a package asking us if we were a grateful patient (read: give us a donation).
No we were not grateful. We did what we had to to get through their issues and enjoy the birth of our son.
I fully support the removal of their board of directors. They provide very poor direction.

I had my son here 23 yr ago. I had to returned today for a medical appt. the hospital very old not much was done as far as I can tell in the past 23 years. Waiting time wasn’t bad at all, very reasonable. The staff nurse/​doctor at the breast clinic are very nice, friendly and informative.

People always complain about hospitals. We live in a country were its free. So you wait awhile the important part is that your injuries are seriously looked at. My family have been here a few times and have been looked after. Gone through 2 pregnancies with great care and friendly staff.

This is a garbage hospital. They treated my elderly relative and other elderly patients with such DISRESPECT and DISREGARD. They let the elderly sit alone and cry and starve. If I didn’t step extra steps, they would have starved my relative and left her to suffer and die. The doctors were uncaring and would not give straight answers. The nurses were cruel. I will search out every avenue to make it known what a horrible hospital this is. Avoid it at all costs.

Avoid this hospital at all cost! It’s beyond me why this hospital has such a high rating (4 stars currently), but after reading some of the reviews it looks like Unilocalers are rating it based on the fact that it’s a hospital alone. It’s almost like rating a restaurant just because it has food!
I’ve come here several times as my wife is scheduled to give birth at this hospital. The last time I was here I was approached by an angry psycho (looked very much like Robert Picton) claiming that nobody loved him and started cursing me out. I wanted to mention that Jesus loved him but decided not to as he was wielding a drumstick. Staff did nothing.
Last week I was watching CTV News and it appears that for the SECOND time this year a dangerous patient had walked away from the hospital’s psychiatric ward. The last time was in Feb where the escapee was shot dead in front of a active elementary school. Not good.
In regards to the hospital itself, very little has been invested to update any of the wards. Many of the halls are dimly lit compared to other Toronto hospitals.
The hospital also does not have dedicated parking. Just street parking which is cheaper then a private lot, but the amount of street parking is limited.
On the good side, the hospital does excel in fast food and convenient stores. This hospital has more fast food shops and convenient stores then some malls – and even outside the hospital.

Ahh, my local hospital. The only reason I go here is because it’s nearby. The quality of care is nothing to complain about and the nurses are nice, but the emergency ward is completely abused and you’ll end up waiting at least 3 hours, even on an off-​night, to get care. I hear they’re modernizing it though, so it’ll likely up its service as well.

So. My first visit!
We have driven past many times and identified a few routes to our NEW closest hospital, East General. I have severe allergies as well as asthma, so it’s always imperative that we have plans for any situation, including driving to the closest emergency treatment location. Turns out, our first visit is transported by ambulance, not car!
I have to say, this is the best GTA emerg I have had the honour of visiting. And I’ve been to four. This one is miles above! I have waited 6+ hours in Ontario to see an emerg doctor… we waited just over 90 minutes! AMAZING!!!
Sunnybrook is definitely my fave for surgery (a.ka. gall bladder removal), Princess Margaret definitely the pick for cancer treatment, TGH for most mental illness and depression/​anxiety cases, Mount Sinai for upscale emerg and rare illnesses… I HATE St. Mike’s, which happens to be the one I’ve visited most often in emerg… ick. Inner city yuckiness… guns and police escorts with most people waiting to be seen… avoid at all costs! Glad we moved.
We arrived at East General (by ambulance) this past Friday night at around 2 a.m., me in anaphylactic shock and Mr. Rosie S. in advanced panic mode. Stretcher delivery with oxygen tubes, monitor hook-​up and all. Mr. handled all the administrative stuff, which was completely smooth — the staff were amazingly helpful and kind, especially given how upset he was!
The EMS team was amazing, and I feel bad that they had to wait around… but they were awesome. They calmed me down and made me feel better about the embarrassing situation! Mr. Rosie S. also has such a good sense of humour — he got along with everyone famously.
We had to deploy our own auto-​injector, and the second dose was given incorrectly, and the doctor was amazing at explaining the FULL and detailed instructions to us.
One thing: Mr. Rosie S. (henceforth «D») was approached by another patients in the waiting area, who had seen his stack of bills. Mr. Rosie S. didn’t know exactly how much we would have to pay for, so he had a sizable wad of cash. This creepy patient tried to proposition him, but D doesn’t really remember what he said… it was clearly about the cash. D (manly man that he is) said something threatening though, and the guy backed off. Still something to be aware of… :)
They gave me more shots of Benadryl and adrenaline, observed me for four hours, then let us go. YAY! Cheated death once more.

ive sampled the goods at toronto east general a few times now; as a patient twice and as a caring (and slightly paranoid) husband at his wife’s bedside.
I never stayed overnight there but my wife did and though she had to wait in line the day she was submitted about 5 hours (yikes!) before she saw a doctor. Now, this was in emergency, but there was no blood gushing, etc., so i imagine we were lower priority, but at the same time there was no one else that was so obviously in need of emergency medical treatment either. Maybe itd be like this in any hospital here.
When my wife was there, the personnel was generally of two kinds — drones and real live talkative people. The drones would be some of the nurses who seem to do their technical job very well, but are lacking in people skills or at the least, they make no effort to make someone whose vulnerable (aka any patient) feel like a person versus a body.
Now on the flipside, there were doctors and other nurses who made a point of making people laugh, feel at ease and warm. I’d say it was a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ split.
When i went i had stitches both times and i didnt have to wait very long at all, and both times i had doctors that were quick, witty and pretty much tell it like it is folks.
its nice, actually, to have a hospital nearby where you feel pretty comfortable and can have your worries kept to a minimum.