The Ottawa Hospital General Campus Emergency Department

Horrible experience. Came in at 7:30 pm on a Monday to a wait time of 6 hours minimum before I would be seen. Once I was taken into the emergency room, the staff were all drinking coffee, flirting and gossiping. No one came to see me even though I was crying and in pain, they appeared to actively avoid speaking with me. This is a perfect example of why someone would choose not to go to the hospital. Incredibly unprofessional. I was told I would have to wait a further 8 hours for treatment by the receptionist who was reading a book at her desk then told to sign a refusal of treatment despite not having been offered treatment. I will never be seeking treatment here again.

On October 8th I visited this hospital because I had very bad left ear pain. Due to the fact that my family doctor was closed, I had no choice but to come take a visit at this hospital. My experience at this hospital was absolutely terrible. After waiting 8 hours to see a doctor, I had to wait another 1 hour in the doctors office while Doctor Gary Herman was walking around for 1 hour. After he finally came in to diagnose me, he told me there was no issues in my ear after he checked it out for a couple of minutes. He then told me to go home and my ear was left untreated that night. After my visit with Doctor Gary, my symptoms began to increase, I started getting some discharge from my ear and completely lost my hearing in my left ear. After a couple of days, I thought that the doctor may have misdiagnosed me so I went in to a walk in clinic for a second opinion. After I went in for a second opinion, the second doctor told me very clearly that I had a very severe ear infection and that it needed to be treated with antibiotics as soon as possible. Doctor Gary ended up misdiagnosing me and left me with several days of pain from my ear, the pain was so horrendous, I felt like amputating my own ear off. Now that I'm on medication for my ear, if I don't end up getting my hearing back after the infection clears out, or if there's any permanent damage to my ear, Doctor Gary Herman will be hearing from my lawyers. He should lose his job tbh for not being able to diagnose a simple ear infection. He wasted my time and left me with even worst symptoms then before.

If I can rate them any lower I would.... The wait times are ridiculous and they end up doing the bare minimum so if you are not dying they won't do the appropriate tests to diagnose you. 11/10/2021: Came in the first time with a fever and despite them saying that it's highly unlikely that it's COVID.... After waiting for 8-9hrs they ended up doing a COVID test sending me home. 12/10/2021: COVID test came back negative but my fever was getting worse so I went to the emergency again and the nurse told me the wait was 8hours ... after a while I was in alot of pain and my fever was getting worse so I went to the desk to see if she can tell me how many ppl are infront of me or how long I have to wait. The nurse came out and cut her off and said has it been 8hrs? Don't expect to get in anytime sooner. I didn't end up staying because chances are I would have stayed the 8hrs and still haven't gotten the appropriate treatment. To that nurse: I just hope that the day you need to come into the emergency the nurse incharge is as pleasant as you were with me.

Some triage need a bit more customer service training. Nurse and doctor in Emergency are very kind, assessment was very accurate. Thank you!

Healthcare services in Ottawa(Canada in general) is a joke. Do youself a favor and do not visit this emergency unless its life threatening. I hurt my lower back yesterday and was in severe pain (couldn't sit and couldn't bend). Went to emergency at 7:30pm and waited till 12:30am for a doctor to see me. The agony of waiting for 5 hours in a so called emergency was much more than the back pain and I left without seeing a doctor. But all is well because its FREE healthcare...

I went there because of sever back pain and I couldn't move or sit. at first the nurse gave me 3 tablets of Tylenol and asked me to wait. I couldn't sit and I had to stand for 6 hours to visit the doctor. It was awful. Finally, they didn't do diagnostic imaging and Dr. just gave me some medications for pain relief. Now I saw that they have claimed more than $1000 for this service to my insurance. The meaning of "EMERGENCY" is totally different here.

Second time here is two days for asthma. Couldn't have been a more different experience. First time I had a nurse that was able to draw blood effectively and I was able to get a chest xray and asthma meds fairly quickly. I was home in 4 hours. Tonight with worse breathing I am getting less monitoring and had a nurse who blew two veins before drawing blood. She was not confident about her ability to draw blood at all. I really don't understand why the ask folks who can't drawn blood to try twice before getting another nurse to help. Now if I need IV meds my best veins are blown.

Got me registered quickly. Nurse did the necessary check ups. COVID restrictions strictly followed. A little wait time, but not too bad.