The Ottawa Hospital General Campus Emergency Department

Yeah the wait times are a problem caused by our broken political system. However, the staff were great and explained everything clearly. It's not their fault that the system is busted.

I grateful shout out to the ER! I didn't expect anything but a long and tedious wait, since I came with a flare-up of a chronic condition, but I was pleasantly surprised at how streamlined the relatively busy ER functioned tonight. Quick and efficient triage followed by almost immediate pain medication administration. I confess I left AMA soon after, just because I didn't want to take up time and space for those in more need of medical attention. Thank you for your help, guys! Have a wonderful holiday season!

Absolutely hostile doctor.even when asked to fix his tone, he carries on being hostile and rude.does not let the patient finish their symptoms and concern for waiting in the emergency 14 hours.this is all regarding doctor stephen bernard choi.

Horrible Horrible service. Wait time of 8 to 10 hrs. Unless you are dying, they won't even bother to ask you. They will register you and then it's like never ending wait times. The system is totally broken. It's worse than developing asian countries to be honest. Same on our politicians! The don't the definition of emergency I guess. If your condition is not serious, don't bother coming here. Just go to walk-in clinics next early morning around 8.

Very slow service and the workers always have attitude. If you ask them anything they start acting annoyed and raise their voice. Today I called my father's his home care nurse because he was having unbearable pain and he was bleeding from his neck where his stage 4 skin cancer is located. The home care nurse came and assets the problem and recommended the he should go the emergency immediately because it looked like he had an infection and is was bleeding. I asked the home care nurse to call and ambulance becuase i thought they would be able to treat him pain quicker. The paramedic brought him to the waiting room at 1am and is 8am now and I don't how many hours more iam waiting. This is supposed to be "Emergency service" I don't think they know the meaning of word Emergency.

Every time I come here wait time crazy. I see people leaving after 5h of waiting. I been here 10h

Worse place ever, it is night now and we have been waiting since 5pm still with no help. Please don’t come here an lest you are dying.

I want to give little advice before I mention my experience. Please everyone who goes to hospital and leave when you have time to give your experience please do so is it will help others who wan to go they don’t face what we have seeing. Now let me start with my experience. I went Tuesday morning around 7am I had broken leg. When they registered me I waited till 12pm I talked same girl who registered when will I be seeing someone to help me. She said I don’t know whatever I just wait again. 4pm new girl was there I ask am I gonna see someone? No answer I called my mom to give bring me food and I left the hospital and came back at 8pm and I asked girl will I be able to see someone? She asked my name and she said after 3 people I I’ll be able. 12am I asked when will I see someone? Doctors are left wait Wednesday 10am I left and came back with no help I just want to civic hospital. I don’t want disrespect the works but honestly 4 girls I saw Tuesday and Wednesday are worse people I have ever see even they don’t give you pain killer or something to help you come you know this is horrible service

Canada emergency system is a joke, why people wait for more than 7 hours when people need a immediate medical attention?

The estimated wait time was 2 hours when I came in but it took about 10 hours. Horrible experience

10 hours for emergency. I thought people are exaggerating, surely emergency medical care cannot be defered for 10hours! How is this possible in Canada! There's not enough doctors nor other healthcare professionals nor emergency beds to meet this growing population! I wannna know do the corrupt people who runs the country ever visit emergency or just have 24hpur personal physician on call! Shame shame shame!

Not enough doctors. There is some nice people but there are also some people who think your condition is not severe enough and come off insulting.
16 hr waits for 2 minute talks.

These fine folks saved my sons life last weekend. Under so much pressure they managed to keep a smile on their faces and were so patient with everyone. I was so impressed with all that was done and I appreciate to the stars and back the fact that I can hold and speak with my son today. Thank you all for your amazing, amazing hard work:) Linda Burton

Don’t come here if u don’t want to wasting your time. We arrived at 6pm and they called us at 1am. Its 4 am now when I’m writing and my friend is in pain. I think they will treat you immediately only if you are dying.

Over the last few days, have had some trouble with pressure in my right ear. Couldn't hear on that side at all. So today, Jan. 1,2023, a statutory holiday mind you, l took a chance as to whether there would be a New Year's Day lineup, and so went to Emerg at The General up on Smyth Road in Ottawa. No appointment or nothing. Within a few hours they had hot-water irrigated my right ear, mopped me up and sent me on my way back home. Couldn't believe my luck. Can hear really well now. Those guys at The General run a great shop there. Great people. All pros. Tough to believe all those whiny, negative reviews.

Has been here since 9: 00 pm last night and it is 6: 40 am now! Have been inside to be seen by a doctor since 4: 0p am, but no luck.
Ottawa has had only 3 hospitals and it doesn't seem the government cares that the population has doubled. People are sick and frustrated, staff is burnt out. Such a shame.

Really fast and efficient at treating SVT attacks (been here twice). Very kind staff in resus. However, I would strongly recommend seeing a family doctor or going to a walk in clinic for non emergency matters. Thanks guys

Worst customer service, waiting time is beyond imagination, they basically leaving you alone for hours even if there are less people waiting.

Always received the best care and the best service from the departments I've dealt with. Personal experience: couldn't ask for better.
Thank you to all staff and all healtcare workers! A specific great thanks to ward 7 East, recieved amazing care pre and post surgery!

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

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.

My main beef is the elevator. The most unsafe I've used on 3 continents, G7, G20, developing, and underdeveloped countries. Doors close quickly and will crush you. Myself and another guy fought the doors and barely stopped them from crushing my elderly mom. This elevator should will not pass safety tests in 3rd world countries.
The hospital is just another hospital in Canada. If you're lucky to bump into the right people at the right time you'll be taken care of.
IMHO, the main reason for our hospitals being swamped (other than potential managerial incompetence and corruption) is the abismal level of primary care.

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.

I came in with paramedics, my temperature was 40.8 and my heart rate was abnormally high, I had hard time breathing and my heart was hurting so much. The paramedics brought me promptly to ER. ER response: I have to wait for 5 hours in a chair. They did not even bring me water when I told them that I am dehydrated, or recheck my temperature to see if I am getting better. I asked them to go home and feed my 1-month old baby (coz they dont allow babies inside coz of covid) then come back in 4 hours when my turn is due, but they would just close the case if I leave. So either I wait in a chair for 5 hours dehydrated with extreme fever, or leave and lose my chance to get checked up!
The frustration was just overwhelming

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.

Waited in the ER room for more than 8 hours. When I asked for a cup of water, That b*** nurse very very loud and rude refuse me! And they know I m here for stomach!

Went into Urgent due to increasingly concerning concussion symptoms. Everyone from info, to triage, to treatment were professional, swift, respectful and courteous. It was (to me) a busy unit, with a few aggressive patients and sudden emergencies on the unit, and the staff were quick to act and manage all these situations on top of providing myself and others care. Amazing team. I think reviewers on here forget how incredibly challenging it would be to work on these units where all the patients are stressed and resources can be limited. Thank you for a great job today

I came in saying its hard for me to breathe. After waiting over 5 hours to be seen, the doc is rude and dismissive of my symptoms, does a quick chest x ray, then tells me its "just anxiety", offers me no treatment options or coincelling on how to reduce the anxiety, then tells me to follow up with GP. I went to a walk in clinic the next day and they said its clearly asthma and gave me a puffer. STAY FAR AWAY FROM HERE. They are sexist and ableist and will not listen to your symptoms or concerns.
Oh ya while I was there, another patient with nonverbal autism had multiple anxiety attacks due to sensory overstimulation and he was made to wait 5 hrs in the loud waiting room with the rest of us even after his attendant talked to the staff multiple times, no quiet place was offered even tho there was one in the adjacent hallway.

Visited for a blood infection. All the staff were polite and the process was fairly straightforward. I was meant to have a bed while waiting but they made a mistake, and the wait was fairly long to see a doctor (2-3 hours). Also, doctor didn't ask about tetanus which was somewhat strange I felt. But generally, an all round positive experience.

I had to go to the ER at The General in January. My wait time was 45 minutes (I know, that's not usual)! Everyone was amazing from the screeners to the triage to the nurses and doctors. The MD's that I saw were caring and respectful. They saw me the next day, and then followed-up with a phone call a few days later. A painful, scary experience was made OK by the care I received. Thank you!

This hospital has saved my life on more than one occasion. The staff are friendly to their patients the facility is kept reasonably clean and they have made wondrous repairs on the Emergency Wing.

Thanks Dr. Ho