Your Hospital Stay

If you are staying in the hospital overnight, we encourage you to bring your own personal care items such as soap, shampoo, combs, mouthwash, toothbrush, shaving kits, sanitary pads/incontinence products and tissues. Please speak to your nurse or the unit coordinator for more information. Consider the following items:

• Blue hospital identification card

Valuables such as cash, credit cards, jewelry and expensive clothing should be left at home. If you have valuables with you, please ask a family member or friend to take them home for you. If this is not possible, your nurse can arrange for cash, credit cards and jewelry to be stored in the Patient Accounts office on the ground floor. Valuables may be retrieved weekdays until 4:30 p.m. (excluding holidays). The hospital is not responsible for personal property brought onto the premises.

Learn about your accommodation options at North York General Hospital and commonly asked questions.

Get information on our Patient Registration/Admitting office, ambulance fees, and our Patient Accounts office.

Patients and health care providers are partners in health care. Here are five common sense tips to engage patients in their own health care:

1. 1. Be involved in your health care. Speak up if you have questions or concerns about your care.

1. 1. Tell a member of your health care team about your past illnesses and your current health condition.

1. 1. Bring all of your medicines with you when you go to the hospital or to a medical appointment.

1. 1. Tell a member of your health care team if you have ever had an allergic or bad reaction to any medicine or food.

1. 1. Make sure you know what to do when you go home from the hospital or from your medical appointment.

Read the brochure Guidelines for Involvement in Your Care to learn what you can do.

Learn about the interpretation services our hospital offers.

North York General Hospital offers all inpatients an innovative food delivery system called Steamplicity. It is focused on the nutritional needs of each patient as well as the quality components of freshness, taste, texture, temperature and presentation. Meal options reflect the diversity of the patients we serve in terms of age, from young children to older adults, and ethnicity.

A dietetic attendant visits the patient one to two hours prior to lunch and dinner and takes the meal selection in person from a restaurant style menu. Patients choose from up to 20 entrees. All selections are verified to ensure they comply with the patient’s diet. Minutes before a meal is delivered to a patient, the meal is cooked in a specially equipped pantry for food preparation located on each patient floor, allowing food freshness to be maximized. This quick cooking time at the point of service enables more flexible meal times — and allows food service to be a patient-focused experience.

To discuss anything related to your meal service, call the Diet Office at 416-756-3001. Note: Please check with your nurse or a dietitian before eating gifts of food because they could interfere with your treatment.

General site meal service times:
Breakfast: 7:30 to 9 a.m.
Lunch: 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
Dinner: 4:45 to 6 p.m.

Get directions to the General site and parking information. 

We offer patients a secure, convenient way to pay their hospital bill. 

The Patient Experience Office provides patients and families with a supportive opportunity to provide feedback about your experiences at NYGH including compliments, concerns, questions and suggestions.

North York General Hospital offers free wireless internet at the General site, making it easier for our patients and visitors to stay connected with family and friends.

How to access free wireless internet:

• • Enable Wi-Fi on your device (laptop, tablet or smartphone)

• • Select “NYGH_PATIENTS” from the wireless network list

• • Launch your internet browser by accepting the Wireless Terms of Use

• • Please sign in using your last name and Financial Identification Number (FIN) located on your hospital band

• • Accept Wireless Terms of Use

Please note that access to Wi-Fi is given for a 24-hour period. To renew for another 24-hour period, please follow the same steps listed above and ensure you accept the Wireless Terms of Use.

Bedside phones

Bedside telephones are available free of charge in patient rooms. Each room has its own extension number and patients are encouraged to give out this extension to family and friends.

• • To reach a patient:
    Dial the main hospital line at 416-756-6000.
    Follow the instructions and enter in the extension.You may obtain a patient’s room or phone number from a volunteer at the General site’s Information Desks on the main floor or on the 1st floor. If you do not know the extension, please wait for an operator to come on the line and redirect you.

• • To make a call from a patient phone:
    Dial “9”
    Dial then dial the 10 digit number you are trying to reach
    Long distance calls must be made through the operator and must be either collect (charged to another number) or credit card. For assistance, press “0”.

Cell phones and wireless communication devices, such as two-way pagers and personal digital assistants, are allowed in the hospital in areas where they will not interfere with sensitive electronic equipment. As a courtesy, please turn off your cell phone during appointments.

Cell phones are restricted and must be turned off in the following areas of the hospital:
General site:

• • Operating suites (first floor)

• • Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency’s patient care areas (1st floor)

• • Medical Imaging (first floor)

• • BMO Financial Group Breast Diagnostic Centre (1st floor)

• • Tippet Foundation Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (2nd floor)

• • Intensive Care Unit (6th floor)

• • Telemetry Unit (6th floor)

• • Waiting area (6thfloor)

In addition to restricted areas, due to privacy concerns some programs may have policies that require all cell and wireless communication devices be turned off during treatment.

In-room television services are no longer available. You are welcome to bring a personal cell phone, tablet, or laptop to connect to our dedicated Wi-Fi service for patients to view online content and entertainment such as Netflix.

We recently upgraded our Wi-Fi so that it is faster for patients. To sign in, please input their last name and Financial Identification Number (FIN), found on their hospital band. If you do not have a phone or other device, please speak with your care team about how to access an iPad during your stay.

Portable battery operated radios are permitted at North York General Hospital as long as they are used with earphones.