St. Michael's Hospital

I am frustrated because the imaging department doesn't answer the phone and I cannot leave a message. As I am not able to go for my CT appointment, I thought it is my responsibility to let them know, so someone else can use the service at that time. But there is no way to do that. I cannot talk with someone, I cannot leave a voice message and I cannot email them. How can I cancel or reschedule?! And the most annoying, unprofessional and unethical behavior is that they make you listen to numerous automated messages, most of which are not relevant or useful to you. They make you push different numbers just to listen to another repetitive message. Even the message asks you to have your OHIP number ready if you want to cancel or reschedule.... I was hoping after listening to all of these tedious automated messages, at least be able to talk with someone or leave a message. But I was not. The last automated message said "Good by"!!!!

My grandfather passed away in the ER a few weeks ago. The nurses and palliative care doctors were very attentive and compassionate. They made his passing as painless as possible and checked in on us regularly. So a huge thank you to them. Unfortunately, we had issues with security in front of the ER. The doctors and receptionist explicitly told my whole family that we were permitted to come and go from the ER building throughout the day to get food and take walks, as we were confined to one room, waiting for my grandfather to pass away. However, whenever we would try to get back into the ER, a security guard would give us a hard time. I would been able to overlook the inconvenience of explaining the situation to them multiple times, but in my grandfather's final moments, some of us were trying to get back in, but security would not let us pass. It was awful to see members of my family crying and calling out to my dying grandfather from outside the building as he was taking his last breaths. We could not be there by his side because security didn't know we were allowed to go into the ER. I completely understand that security has to do their jobs and they have been given instructions about whom to let in and when. But we were told multiple times by staff in the ER that we were an exception because my grandfather was on his deathbed. It was incredibly upsetting to have to clash with security all day, and especially in my grandfather's final moments. This lack of communication prevented us from being all together when he died. I can only imagine how difficult it is to be hospital staff especially during this pandemic and I understand that that security has to deal with difficult people every day. I know it's easy for me to criticize in hindsight, but I'm writing this review in hopes that some attention will be given to this issue so that others won't experience what we did. If the policies and communication are clearer between security and medical staff, it will save some families a lot of hurt. Thank you very much for reading.

Both in the emergency service, in the MRI and Ear Nose and Throat sectors, the employees serve you badly, impatiently, bureaucratically, arrogantly and are rude. Of course there are rare employee exceptions and thank you very much to those few! You try to complain and they respond even worse, justifying their behavior with cynicism. I think it's the hospital culture, you have to be arrogant and impatient to work there. They really think they're doing you a favor. And they seem to hate working there and take out their frustrations on those in vulnerable situations. This is cowardice. A shame! I just want you to be treated the way you treat patients when you are patient. And maybe you will wake up. If they feel busy but seem to think that the rest of the world has a lot of free time and they are at your disposal and ready to be your punching bag.

Our son was born this morning at St michaels and I can't say enough great things. The nurses and doctors there were all super supportive and had nothing but encouraging words. When things went sideways, they gave us clear explanations and explained the options available. Very happy with my experience.

Dr Wilson is an amazing neurosurgeon, who repaired my ongoing back pain. He performed two spinal surgeries on me in the Fall of 2020, I have since fully recovered and cannot thank him enough. His entire team, including Tom Willis, were remarkable. Thank you!

Dr. Samantha Marriage saw me at the ER. She was so kind and knew how to manage my combine symptoms of physical and psychological pain. She went out of her way to try to help me in what it was in her power. Thank you for your great and valuable job, I’m so grateful to have the blessing of this hospital with such a caring staff near me. Even when I went for x-ray, one of the workers saw my gown was open on the top part and offered to assist me to close it, even though I was so sick I didn’t mind leaving it open. Great experience, thanks again!

Thanks to Dr. Pace, Marketa and the team for giving me a better quality of life. The medical system is not perfect and definitely needs an improvement. I am just grateful for all the work put into the surgery I had this week and majority of the staff i interacted with at this hospital were hardworking, knowledgeable and kind.

My mother entered the palliative ward under the promise she would face life’s end with comfort, care and dignity. The opposite was true. The first day the nurses had confused her orders and failed to provide the means for her to be hydrated. Six days in they abruptly moved her without informing us. When we went to her room and didn’t see her we were shocked and thought she had passed away. We were told by the head nurse this was standard practice. Aside from one very pleasant and kind doctor we found the staff totally lacking. Very little was done to communicate with us, to comfort us to provide us with the feeling my mum’s life mattered. We felt so totally let down. I didn’t think after the nursing home transfer it could get worse. Boy was I wrong. The whole system of care is broken. It is truly shameful.