I and my daughter spent 13 hours at ER waiting for seeing a doctor. We came in at 6:30 pm July 2, 2022 and left at 7:30 am July 3, 2022. The reason why we came was my 5-year old daughter got fever for three days. And the doctor we eventually saw told us we should have booked an appointment at clinic because her situation was not severe. I believe the doctor is being honest but shouldn’t they tell us at the very beginning? I asked the nurse at 3am when we can see the doctor, she told me they only have one doctor on duty tonight but things would be improved when another doctor comes to work 6am in the morning. She told us there’s only 1 patient ahead of us. BUT in the end we had to wait another 3 hours to see a doctor. Just for the record there was no ambulance coming at that time. When I walked in the corridors of the ER at 5am, I felt like wandering in a hotel because it was awfully quiet. NOBODY IS WORKING! No doctor no nurse no hectic movements of professionals, no sounds that you usually hear in other ER except some children’s crying occasionally. But there were 21 patients and their parents waiting for seeing a doctor desperately. There were 21 patients waiting between 5am to 6am which means not a single patient was seen by a doctor during that time. The maximum waiting time increased from 11 hours to 12 hours (that was us). If you know the simple math you will know for some periods of time no doctor in this ER is working. It should be a disciplinary accident in my point of view. They should investigate whether the doctors on duty that night and the other nights were shirking. After reading the posts here I believe it’s not the first time and won’t be the last time. It’s a shame to the hospital. It’s unacceptable for TAX payers and they should END this or simply shut the ER down.

Unacceptable wait time for a children’s emergency room. It should not take over an hour to even register and wait another 8-10 hours to get help. These are children who are sick.. we deserve better and should demand that this gets fixed. No kid should have to wait this long to get help, we are not a third world country. You should be embarrassed and ashamed to treat people like this.

The Ministry funds only one Doctor for overnight shifts, and whether you believe it or not, this is true!!! This is ridiculous!!! Does anyone knows that as a matter of fact, more people die night time versus day time?? Hundreds of babies!!! Very sick!! And only one doctor!!! I was at CHEO last night with my grandson and needless to say it was a nightmare! Some parents decided to leave with very sick children!! Others tried to be creative to make beds on ugly and uncomfortable chairs. Children were suffering until the next day if not days!!! Honestly, if this is what you are calling a better health care, you are just wrong. I would prefer to pay and be taken care of. Please consider my rating as zero, versus one star. One funded Doctor doesn’t sound like I am in a developed country. Even third world countries can afford more than one doctor per night.

Well let's see. We arrive at 19h with a '5' hour wait time, it's now 1 in the morning and was told at least another ten hours. Whoever manages this place should be fired. If this was a money making business they'd be bankrupt. A children's hospital that has 1 doctor on during the night. 64 patients currently waiting. And I know this is the status quo based on all the other reviews mentioning the exact same thing. What is wrong with this place. But don't worry, there's a big sign mentioning a new 500 million investment. How about instead, you hire a few more doctors instead of burning tax payer money for a shiny new building. When the nurse starts scratching people of the patient list as they leave because they can't wait sixteen hours they should be ashamed, but I'm sure this happens every night here because she acted so casually about this, literally sick and suffering people leaving because they can't sit in pain for hours on end to see the one doctor they decide to have on. Dispicable.

***The lesson of my story: have a fever for 5 days and only then they will possibly check if it's pneumonia.*** Not sure how to feel about supposedly one of the best children's hospital in the area. Online wait time was estimated at 3-4 hours. We finished in 7-8 hours. Granted there were a lot of patients coming in continuously and probably more urgent. They give snacks, toys for kids waiting and there's food you can buy. My almost 2 year old kid had a cold for a month, then it became worse the past week with several other symptoms including a congested cough, 3 day fever, more difficulty breathing at night, rashes, etc. I guess all that was not enough for the triage nurse to think it was serious because she couldn't help but laugh when I said I know we should go in 3-5 days of fever but I wasn't sure to wait 5 days with all these other symptoms. Skip to the doctor visit, I was told there's a lot of virus going around and they can't tell without doing tests. It's only 3 days, just have her drink lots of fluids. She said it's not RSV or pneumonia yet but come back 5 days if she still has fever. It's 5 days of fever now, went to Gatineau, they wondered why CHEO didn't do any tests (ex. Covid, blood sugar) which took 5 mins for them in triage. They did more tests and found out it was pneumonia (not viral).

**This review is of the ER department ONLY** I went to the ER because my daughter had a severely, infected ingrown toenail. After waiting in line for over an HOUR, I was in triage with a male nurse. He was rude right from the start, when he yells: COME HERE! From the second room. We walk to the room and he asks what we were there for. I tell him, and he scoffs at me and says: "The ER is NOT the place for that issue". Shockingly, I ask him why, and he says that "they won't do anything for you. All you do is soak it. But, whatever. Go sit there and wait to register, but you'll be very last to be seen". I walked to the seating area with my daughter and, a few minutes later he walked to us and TOSSES my child's wristband at me: "Put it on!" and immediately walked away. Keep in mind, the waiting room was packed too, and everyone saw and heard him. I was absolutely mortified by such treatment and especially at a Children's Hospital!!! I ended up just leaving the ER. I will never take my child here! They will get way better treatment next door at the General.

You guys collect donations all the time but can't hire more doctors? It's ridiculous to wait over 10 hours just to get an x-ray of my daughter's nose to make sure it's not broken. Why do you have to get a doctor to approve this. Just get the nurse to do this. This place is getting worse and worse. How do you keep a kid in a place for over 10 hrs. Absolutely unacceptable. We have the worst healthcare system in the world.

Writing this at 12 hours of waiting for a doctor. Like many others have said there is only one ER doctor between midnight and 6AM. In our experience very few patients were seen between these hours, maybe 4 or 5. Seems to be lots of support staff but lack of doctors is the root cause here. This is now the third time we have experienced this, and will be traveling out of town to find a hospital that can help us. The support staff are great, they are just constantly overwhelmed. I no longer consider CHEO a functioning hospital.

Racism in the health care system is real. It's very unfortunate that some individuals feel entitled to decide who deserves health care or not. We were referred by our family doctor for my 2 months old baby at the time to see a dermatologist. When we came for our next appointment with our doctor she informed us that she still hasn't heard back from them. So she sent another request. Couple days after she got a reply that my daughter will being seen in 90 days and this was back in July. She found it very interesting and was also wondering what was the reason behind. At some point we started searching for a private clinic because our daughter was very uncomfortable. When I called CHEO dermatologist clinic, the receptionist found all excuses to justify this length of time. I am a Christian and God always answer my prayers. I went to visit my friend who happens to be a white woman and she informed me that she was referred to CHEO dermatologist clinic for the same issue and got an appointment a week after. She was so chocked and disgusted to know that I still don't have an appointment for my daughter. We are used to an unfair system but I couldn't imagine it will be applying to a innocent baby. You need to do better. Very very disappointed.

There was a 4 hour wait. We knew that going in. There is a kids first clinic that picked us up. We didn't know that it wasn't part of the emergency. We ended up waiting for hours and were constantly bumped. If we would have stayed in emergency we would have been seen so much faster. Ended up leaving when they bumped us from the exam room in the clinic. We had been there over five hours at this point. The whole system is broken over there.we didn't chose to be there either. Our family doctor sent us. In the end we didn't feel treated with dignity at all. They would say 40 minutes and then after 70 minutes move you to a different waiting room. Its emotianlly and physically exhausting. We felt that they were simply trying to make us leave. There is no reason to have 5 different waiting rooms without ever seeing a doctor. The whole system is just ridiculous. It's either incompetence or cruel by design. *** Update, we found out they sent the wrong medical information back to our family doctor. So sorry to whoever's kid had a UTI. Our child wad treated competently by their family doctor. I would avoid this place like the plague.

As a developed country, it is highly shameful for Canada to consider such waiting periods as "acceptable" in lieu of free health care. I don't blame this hospital. The shortage of family physicians in the city leads every caring parent to rush to ER. This is an epic clusterfailure of Ottawa's health system which everyone knows but no one wants to address. No, the pandemic didn't cause this. It was apparently like this even before the pandemic. Equitable and free healthcare access is what we must be proud of in Canada but it must not come at the cost of such long wait times for kids ER (6-9 hours). Nowhere in the developed world is this acceptable by any standards. Nowhere. In the developed world.

The wait time is ridiculous. We have been waiting for 7 hours and we still have not seen a doctor. We left with our baby. This is not acceptable. The System needs to be changed. I don’t understand why doctors get paid so much yet we have so little service in Canada. This should change.

Horrible place. What kind of hospital staffs 1 doctor overnight?? 10-12 hours wait time, nurses telling people your better off to leave and come back tomorrow after you already sat for hours, parents basically camping in hallways with their sick children because there is no space, bathrooms so disgusting that covid would be the last thing you would worry about catching in them… Absolute pathetic disgrace.

the two stars are for the good care you’ll receive…. if you are ever seen. The ER never had enough doctors… it seems like they need to find more doctors because it’s unacceptable that each time i attempt to take my child there, they have one doctor working and the wait time is close to 10 hours

CHEO Emergency Department. I decided to leave after waiting for 3 hrs. According to the nurses waiting time is 8 to 10 hrs. I don't know if they are short staff. But the department should do something about their system. On the entrance they will tell parents that only one guardian is allowed to be with the patient due to Covid but unfortunately this is not strictly implemented and that cause the waiting area to be over crowded. The waiting area is so disorganized, people there are like doing camping already because of the long waiting time. I saw multiple family taking multiple seats for them to be comfortable lying down and sleeping there. If this will be the situation everyday in that department I feel bad for the children with mild symptoms that needs medical attention. This is a Childrens hospital and for kids to wait that long is not easy esp.they are unwell. I am fine waiting up to 5 or 6 hrs but for 8 to 10 hrs is too much plus to the factor that they are not strict in the current Covid protocols. I think this is the new Canadian health system because of Covid a lot of factors were affected. The quality patient care is no longer seen.

My wife and son ended up going to this hospital as directed by a nurse from the Monfort claiming that it was going to be faster, 2h wait. My son has been throwing up at night for the past week on/off so decided to get him checked out . She spent a total of 8.5 hours there and never got to see anyone other than a med student briefly. I am truly embarrassed and appalled to call this a health care system. What a Fregging joke in the nation's capital too. The amount of stress this hospital has put my wife and others through is unacceptable sounded like parents were breaking down mentally while waiting/tending their sick kids. Honestly this whole ordeal caught be off guard we were unaware of how terrible our health system actually is... I guess my son won't be able to fall ill since he won't be getting any help out from our health care. Very sad/demoralizing night and we're left not knowing anything more than when we started. We need change ASAP!

Brought my little man to the ER. Waited for almost 7 hours to see a doctor. The services we received on admission override the wait time. The angels missing in heaven are in CHEO. The doctors are kind, reassuring, with great emotional intelligence and professionalism. Nine out of ten of the nurses are dedicated, professional and kind. The volunteers are dedicated and devoted. The energy from the whole team de stresses parents and kids. Lots of games to distract children from their pain. When you focus on all that positive energy , the rude cafe staff won’t get to you.

I hate reading bad reviews on this hospital. They saved my life when I was 6 years old. I was there for 2 weeks after finding out I had really bad phenomena and caught it late. Staff were very nice and is a hospital me and my brother went to whenever we were sick.

Amazing vacation spot! Not only was the food phenomenal when I was finally allowed to eat after 1-3 days, most of the nurses, doctors, and surgeons, and other staff are super nice and even saved my life countless times since birth during many of my numerous visits to this wonderful resort. Some items on the menu, such as hot chocolate, are said to have a limit of one per day. I prefer to believe that you can get an infinite amount, but that delivery may take up to 24h between each cup. If you begin your visit through emergency, you may experience extended wait times before you can become a patient, or if it takes too long you may become impatient. That's because it can be very popular. Good news: if you're stuck in the waiting room, it could mean that your life probably might not be on the line, maybe. If you are planning a long stay, there could be toys or entertainment to borrow from the playroom, but I recommend bringing your own books, electronics, or parent to talk with all day long once you begin to feel better. Once they remove your IV, it feels really good to go for a little stroll around the hospital or outside to the little park and feel free again. Moving again after days without being able to eat will likely dig a serious appetite. Did I mention that the food menu is unlimited and that you can basically spend your whole day ordering and eating? Some items take a while to arrive, though, especially when you already had them. This resort offers mandatory wake up calls consisting of the surgery team doing their rounds to check on you. It's very effective when you worry about sleeping through a meeting with several serious professionals in lab coats and the topic is your health and what to do with you. Rather than hearing a beep or platitudes from this wake up call, you might even learn something, for example that your vacation is over and you're going home. Best resort ever, 5 stars! Gabriel, 11, with edits from dad

Came to CHEO yesterday because my 6 week old was breathing hard and grunting. There was 1 other family with older kid in front of me, they triaged him first. I was ok with it since the place was empty. Registration staff were chatting about vacations for about 30 minutes after which they called us to register my child. We were asked to wait in the waiting room, another 20 minutes, then waiting for the doctor for another 1.5 hours. We left since no doctor came and sought private care. Shame on you! This understaffing and covid excuses we keep hearing about are getting too old. Let me remind you that my older kid has autoimmune disease because your pediatrician misdiagnosed him and sent us home, second visit I waited 10 hours while pregnant and after being put on waitlist for 2 hours to get tylenol for my kid's fever, I left, sought private care, and kid was admitted for treatment. You should seek external consultants to optimize your process.

First visit to Cheo, awful experience took nearly 2 hours for them to register my 11month old. Shortly after he was finally registered they sent him for an X-ray of his possibly broken ankle. 8.5hours later still waiting for a doctor to look at the results. Went to the nurses station to ask for some pain meds for my son, was asked what time his vitals were last checked? I tell them you never checked… she tells me oh the triage nurse does that during registration… lady pretty sure I would know if you checked my sons vitals. 11.5 hours here now and being told only one doctor until 6am !? So will be MANY hours yet …. I’m very concerned for all the children and lack of care that’s provided also note to some of the nurses… if you don’t like your job find a new one. The way I saw a lot of the nurses speaking to parents was absolutely disgusting.

First, let me say the care at CHEO was very good. My daughter was admitted immediately after she was experiencing an asthma attack. However, to make an already stressful situation more stressful, the billing representative interrupted the doctor's meeting with us to ask billing questions, ignoring the doctor's admonishment to wear a gown around a respiratory patient, and pushed a bunch of paperwork on me, while refusing to take our insurance since they "don't do third party billing." This is the *only hospital* we've visited that has refused to take our insurance information when checking in. After that, I proceeded to follow up with the billing department just a few days after the visit and they stated they had no problem with billing my insurance and would do so directly. Problem solved, or so I thought... This was almost a month ago. Then without informing me, they went ahead and billed me directly despite our agreement, asking if I would bill the insurance instead. So very frustrating.

The doctor's and the nurses are great even though they have been overworked they still do the job with smile on their faces. Now the waiting time is another story probably the worst in the whole wide world. I'm not sure why a child with a chronic cough should stay in the hospital for 24 hours before they are being seen by a doctor that is unacceptable. Then after the doctor finally sees you the doctor tells you ohhh the symptoms are normal in this kind of season just monitor the child if the Symptoms worsen then bring the child back. I think if the leaders and the Prime Minister of this country really don't care about their citizens, because if they truly care then the Prime Minister will make an effort employ doctors and nurses from different countries to come and practice just as the USA and UK does it.

When I first got here they told me 7-8h wait time, I waited 10 hours then they told me it’s 14hours and still wasn’t our turn, when I went to see the millions of nurses that were there I was told some people wait 22 hours. What kinda hospital makes you wait 22 hours to see a doctor. And all the older kids with broken bones passed before us while my 2 year old son had a high fever and an ear infection. Talk about priorities. It was so dirty too. I left this horrible hospital and drove 2 hours to another hospital. Worst childrens hospital ever!!!!

It's really hard to see all of the comments regarding long wait times. We have a phenomenal health care system that actually allows us access to doctors whenever we need, with a lack of cost compared to other countries. The most ill are seen first. My daughter was airlifted to CHEO from a much smaller hospital a few hours away. We have been blown away by the hard work, kindness, generosity and attention to detail all of the doctors and nurses have shown us. We have never had a hospital experience as easy as this one.

Absolutely the worst experience at CHEO. First of all we were made to wait at 13hrs with no explanation of the wait. The triage nurse was very rude and doesn’t like us asking questions at all. The emergency nurses made it in such a way that they might call up our name anytime and we have to be ready but that didn’t happen for 13hrs. Every time we went to ask the status, it was a different answer we got about how many before the line and if we could meet with the doctor. They make us wait as they are doing some favour. 13 hrs of wait and I’m still waiting to see the doctor. The worst ER system ever and you would think this happens at children hospital

Wow. After reading many reviews here, sounds like your ER department needs a major overhaul. We came in with our 5 year old who had a HEAD injury. Nurses were lovely. We waited over 6 hours, 9pm -3 am, til our patience ran out and we left without even seeing the doctor. There were only 3 or 4 others in the waiting room! Unfortunately, this sounds like the norm for CHEO. But it should NOT be. Making children wait hours on end, all in some sort of pain, is really quite inhumane. We are from out of town so fortunately we have access to a much higher reputed hospital. Get your act together CHEO.

The doctors, nurses and staff are incredible. Most importantly they are thorough. You can go out with confidence that your child will be ok. Yes, the wait times are really long but you need to really blame Doug Ford for that.

Waiting in the car since 9:30pm July 21, 2021. Outside of CHEO emergency in parking lot and it is now 3:21am July 22, 2021. Yes that is right, almost 6 hours, my wife and daughter were registered before 9:30pm July 21 2021 and nurse mentioned it will be around 2-2.5 hrs wait. We do not visit hospital generally to know what's norm, nor are we from this area to know how long is the wait in general. All I know is that this is ridiculous and these standards should not be acceptable anywhere unless you are living in a cave.

Can’t even discuss the quality of care because my two year old, with what seems like a broken arm/wrist, never even got to see a doctor. My wife got there, it took over an hour to get triaged, they were told it would be a 10 hour wait, waited 5 hours only to be told that it would actually be another 10 hours. The hospital staff did give him Advil for the pain so that gets them the 1 star. These kind of wait times are insane and it’s definitely not the staffs fault.

Not overly happy. I was here yesterday and was told I would have to wait more then and hr for a prescription. I had my daughter with me and decided it was too long of a wait and that I would come back the following morning. I was told by the pharmacy that the hrs for the following day were 10-4pm. I got here around 11:10 to find the pharmacy closed. When I asked at reception I was told that sometimes they open as late as 12noon!Why have hrs of operation If you don’t stick to them. I have no choice but to get my medication here. Instead of being in and out and not paying for parking, I am now stuck here waiting and will likely have to pay $14 for parking.

Wish I could say the same as others. I felt discriminated and helpless. I went to CHEO with my 15 month old daughter who had a very high fever. The nurse at the triage on June 7 at around noon was asked to help another male nurse because of the big line up. This young female was not interested in working and the way she yelled at me for bringing my daughter there made me feel so little. Then I observed her an hour and my conclusion is that this special treatment was reserved for immigrants. I have been to Civic and General and received treatment during pregnancy but I have never felt like this there. This is not the only instance. There have been many instances at CHEO which suggest that staff needs some sensitivity training and tolerance for immigrants.

AWFUL x-ray experience with a 2 yo. The lab tech forced the sick toddler's arms above his head and tied him up in a plastic tube until nearly immobile. While the boy cried and struggled, he was shoved face first into a wall (the x-ray board) where he couldn't see anyone else. No explanation, no soothing. If that was an adult, it would have been considered extremely inappropriate. I was stunned and nearly lost my mind just watching. To provide a contrast for those that falsely think it was necessary, I had taken my son to the Almonte hospital a day prior for the same issue. They had also done chest x-rays. However, they explained what was needed, talked nicely to the boy and just had me wear a lead vest and hold my sons hands up. He stood on the floor and looked up at me over the board that he stood against. Civilized and professional. Not all kids may be that patient or amenable but for a centre of excellence in dealing with children, CHEO should have at least tried a polite way first. The other hospital treated my 2 yo for bronchiolitis and let us go. The boy digressed the next afternoon and we brought him to CHEO, as recommended. CHEO treated him for an asthma attack brought on by the virus. It took A LONG TIME to get released and the boy was breathing better but was not recovering sufficiently. Almonte followed up with us after having Radiologists review the x-rays and they determined that he had an infection/ pneumonia in his left lung. They provided immediate access to medication and my son swiftly recovered. End of the day, CHEO did not properly diagnose and the experience of having 2 simple x-rays left my child slightly traumatized. Every child they do that to is not receiving optimal treatment and is only being made more distrustful of future medical providers. I could not be more disappointed in my expectations. Teach your x-ray techs to deal with kids, CHEO.

Made the difficult decision to take my daughter (who was in a lot of pain) last night because we couldn't get into any clinics and our family doctor retired earlier this year. We were taken in and given a room in emerg very quickly. A resident doctor came in to ask questions and administered a covid test. A bit later the doctor came in to examine her and left without saying much. 30ish minutes later a nurse popped her head in to toss some medicine on the counter and said "she can take this" and left. That was at 9:15pm and then we didn't hear from anyone until I grew so frustrated I hit the call button for an update around 5:00am. Turns out they forgot about us and closed our file. A nurse informed us that we could have left at 9:30 the previous night. We never received a diagnosis, instructions or notice that we were being let go. I am so frustrated and angry with the lack of care my daughter was given, I am in the process of lodging a formal complaint.

Hi I’ve had such a bad experience last week! I had to wait 24 hours to get anyone to see my daughter. Witch I realize there busy. But what I don’t appreciate is when the doctor says “I hope you enjoyed your 24 hours here” with obvious sarcasm! Also to top it all off the vending machines weren’t working my husband put in 10$ only got a bear paw than zero $ for change! Than we go to the front entrance to try and put our ticket in, and it wouldn’t accept it. Went to the front desk for the lady to tell me it wasn’t her problem and not her job to put out of order on the machine! But that we could pay at the gate if we have a credit card. We tried twice with two different cards and it wouldn’t read either of them. We waited 20 minutes for someone to come outside to help us . Worst experience I’ve ever had at a hospital!

Absolutely miserable visit. I get the place is busy but there is no sense of urgency. My son has been waiting for almost 6 hours with no end in sight.

Came to Cheo emergency at 2:30 am and waited the entire night to be seen by a physician. Around 7:15 am a mom came in with a sick child and just because she was a former employee got to go inside the room in 10 minutes. When consulted the nurses that how much longer should I wait for. The nurse told me that the wait time is 8 hours and so far it has only been 5hrs of wait time for your daughter. I do understand that severely sick children will be seen first but just because the mom was a former employee should not be prioritised. It’s a hospital and the rules should apply to each and every patient equally.

I came with my 15 month old with high fever over 40, was seen by triage and baby was given Advil, we were seen 4 hours later and sent home after 5 hours with instructions to continue tyelnol and advil for 3-4 days and to come back if fever still persists. I need to come in tomorrow because fever is still ongoing, please dont let babies wait for that long. Me, as an adult have no problem but this is supposed to be emergency. You cant send us home without full check up to identify the cause of fever, give our kids better please. This review is by no means targeted towards the staff, but more about the system. Expand this hospital please.

21 years in the CAF, never seen overbooked clinics like CHEO's. Somehow it's expected that parents take a full day off to make a 1030-1130 appt, in this case with vision / C8. Several families booked for 1030, one ophthalmologist for everyone which means it's 1220 and my 6 year old still hasn't been assessed --- for a s-c-h-e-d-u-l-e-d appointment, which we arrived at 1025 hrs for. As if parents don't have jobs to get back to 🙄

Waiting times are long but the care is personal and friendly. The doctors and nurses are great, making the kids as comfortable as possible. Funding and staff shortages are a problem but the average wait time in any Ontario hospital ER is approx 20 hrs. Consider contacting the Ministry of Health and donating to a fundraiser.

We went mid October because my daughter had a fever for over 5 days, I believed she had a chest infection/possibly bronchitis and needed xrays/antibiotics. She could hardly breathe at night for 2+ days. We had spent 8hrs+ waiting at our local hospital the day before and I left deciding to go to drive the hour to cheo after my daughter tried to sleep because the people waiting ahead of us at our local hospital had been waiting over 24hrs+. We moved to the area 1yr ago and have yet to find a family doctor, there are no walk in clinics local to us. The hospital is the only option for us unfortunately. We waited 8hrs at cheo. I didn't think it was a huge deal to wait that long (I've waited 6hrs+ in niagara prepandemic when she put a pea up her nose). It's nice that you can check online beforehand to see the wait times before you leave and pack accordingly. It said 6hr wait online before we left. If you can't wait that long then go/stay home; it truly isn't an emergency and you shouldn't be at the hospital if you feel you have the option to just go/stay home. Not to say that waiting 8hrs is acceptable; it was very difficult at 37wks pregnant with a sick child. My daughter and I can not eat gluten. I came prepared with a purse full of snacks, but I wasn't expecting to fully rely on that. The only safe (no risk of cross contamination) gluten free option in the cafeteria was GFB (gluten free bites) and a fruit cup. My daughter had a fruit cup but didn't like it because the fruit wasn't fresh. I ended up eating some of the sushi (less than ideal when pregnant) but it had smoked salmon so I figured it was okay/better than nothing. It was cross contaminated with gluten because I had a rash for a week. (Note: I did not use the soy sauce, it was just rice, nori and smoked salmon). It wasn't labeled gluten free, just listed all gf ingredients but I was starving. I feel like they should have better options available. Maybe packaged GF salads with proteins, packaged meat/cheese clearly labeled with gluten free stickers, prepared somewhere that there is no risk of cross contamination. I did not want the gf/keto bread at Mr. Sub because it was too high of a risk for cross contamination. I'm lucky I just had a rash and wasn't puking/having sweats/diarrhea. [After reading reviews, I can't believe someone went to the emergency room for an ingrown toenail. Seriously not an emergency. Something you deal with at home. We do need more family doctors/walk in clinics available in the area. I feel they should screen people better when doing triage and just tell people like that it's not an emergency and to call telehealth. People going to the ER when it's not an emergency is why the wait times are bad]

-0 stars if I could, WORST hospital ever and HORRIBLE staff. Every time we or my friends/family go there, they ALWAYS turn everyone away regardless the reason, they obviously don't care about the children/patients if they keep turning people away often enough and not actually doing their job to HELP... Constantly the worst experiences ever with this hospital by far

Very disappointing with the long wait more than 6 hours to see a doctor who doesn't take the child symptoms seriously at the end i had to return to my family doctor. Making children and babies to wait in pain is unacceptable we need more doctors since we only have one children's hospital in Ottawa.

The staff in the ER were great. They were very respectful whenever I had questions and the doctors were very careful and did not rush us. The hospital was also clean considering how busy it was at that time. HOWEVER, THE WAIT TIMES ARE ABSURD. We waited for a total of 10 hours with a 21 month old toddler!! My toddler had difficulty breathing and the triage nurse administered an asthma inhaler to ease the symptoms. But to make parents with small children wait that long is brutal. Hire more doctors especially for midnight shifts because that is when the symptoms worsen for most people and there is a surge of sick patients coming into the hospital. Something must be done to increase patient capacity as well. I was told that one parent was only allowed. How can you expect one parent to wait with a restless toddler for that long? Especially if you have no place to sit comfortably.

Located on 401 Smyth Road is a major hospital complex that includes the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). CHEO is fantastic and the staff, nurses, doctors do amazing things. No parent wants to see their child go to hospital, but if they do, this is the best place for them to go to. CHEO staff not only care for your child, they also empathize and do their best to care for families as well.

People at the reception/information are rude and lacking professionalism , sending time gossiping and caring for people looking for orientation and info, what I experienced today was terrible, I went to cheo with my doctor’s referral letter to get my 2 months baby blood test, I approached the receptionists, they were gossiping and werevembarrassed when I asked for the lab location, they advised me to get to emergency entry, which was at the opposite of the building , it’s pouring outside , I was pushing baby stroller I got totally wet ,when I entered the emergency building and spoke to people in triage , they told me I had to go through the main entrance, I explained to the it’s the employees in the main entrance who recommended me to go to the emergency entrance ,they got astonished, anyway they have been so helpful and they entertained me properly, Then I went back to the main entrance and spoke again to the employees asking them why they sent me to the emergency entrance while the lab was just next to them, the answered they didn’t understand the referral letter relevant department?!!!, Really such people should never been hired to work at cheo.

What a mess of a place! The receptionists are void of any empathy and nobody takes responsibility for their words. One doctor says one thing and the week after another doctor says the opposite and then again. Completely unorganized and get a child's hopes up and crash it carelessly....3 times!!!!

October, Wednesday 27, 2021. You should get rid of rude people or teach them how to deal with people especially those parents who call or come to your hospital and are of course worried about their sick children. I just called cheo and talked to someone and I was giving him some details about my daughter's situation and he clearly told me that these details don't concern him and do not waste his time. They should understand no matter what you say and explain is related to a parent' worries. It about a child who needs care. A parent does not call to waste your time Mr. You should be hold responsible for your rude behaviour. You should be disciplined.

If there was an option for a zero then that would be my answer. This childrens hospital isnt helpful and they are not invested in family and children. A politician running the hospital? DO NOT GO TO CHEO FOR MENTAL HEALTH. We were told our child's case was "complex". At the age of 13 CHEO has written him off. Our child's mental and physical health our now destroyed!!!

November 11, 2021. I’ve been here with my daughter for 6 hours and I was told that it may be several more hours before she gets seen. A lady I was talking to earlier had been here with her son for 11 hours and counting. I couldn’t help but notice the place is pretty filthy too. Honestly, this is ridiculous for a first world country to have such a terribly understaffed hospital as this. And this is a children’s hospital for Pete’s sake! What am I paying all these taxes for?

I had been at CHEO emergency twice for my kids' treatment and my experience had been amazing. Very good and experienced staff/nurses/doctors. I had heard so much negative about CHEO but my personal experience has been opposite completely. The hospital is really good. You might need to wait 1-2 hrs to see a physician but once they start treating you, you can be rest assured that you are going to get the best treatment. If I can give more than 5 stars then I will give.

I was wait here about 10 hours here. From 8 pm to next day morning 7am.

We came with our 18th month old daughter who was registered with a 40 degree fever, during the intake my wife said she mentioned she was occasionally constipated. I'm not going to generalize the quality of the entire hospital but our experience with emg was horrible. Due to COVID I had to wait outside, which is fine But my wife + child waited 4 hours, from around 9.30pm to close to 2am, and they placed our daughter with everyone else (this seems really bad practice as fever is a COVID symptom, luckily our daughter didn't have COVID, but if she did, kids could have been infected). No one came to get her or see how our daughter was doing... and after waiting 4 hours my wife decided to just leave, as our daughter couldn't rest, crying, etc.. and both of them was getting warn down (if you have a 18 month old sick child you'll know waiting 4+ hours is UNACCEPTABLE. We managed the night with Tylenol and taking her to the pediatrician next morning asap)... A couple days later, I checked the "My Chart" and it said we came in for constipation.. what a JOKE... UNACCEPABLE.... I hope you guys do better, as this is the only children hospital in Ottawa... SAD... This CAN'T be the standard... I thought this is a developed country, where does my friggin tax dollars go, I've been to "3rd world" countries that offer better service and care. Either offer a friggin private option or do something about this.

"I love it great care" my nine year old literally wrote this. Ok now he's embarrassed and is asking me to delete, which I won't ☺️☺️☺️ (happy parent victory) Very happy with CHEO after nearly a decade of multiple ER visits. They outperform any hospital in Ottawa by a thousand miles. Excellent care, we're always grateful for how they help our kids heal and draw smiles on their faces.

From long time a go they're not a good hospital, some departments work great but just a few. They don't listen to what a parent can say it's just be served and go. No empathy no real knowledge of autism. Lack of the ethic they should have as health care workers. Don't blame covid, this was like this long before. Some parents never complain because of retaliation. Anyway thanks too those who work very hard.

I have had a bring my son there a few times now for difficulties breathing when he has a cold (20months) waits are terrible they used throw you in a room and make you wait for hours to see a doctor, the nurses do come in to check his breathing but I always have to ask if it sounds better or else they will just check and leave with no explanation or update or next steps, etc… I arrived today at 8AM, at 1230 I decided to leave and try to manage his care on my own. Very sad to see the health care system go so far down the drain. There was someone there working with the hospital to try and make families feel more comfortable, he saw I was distressed after trying to keep my toddler occupied for 4 hours in a room with nothing to do, he brought my son a playmat and some toys that was my only positive experience about today. Just makes people not want to go there and kids may end off in worse condition.

Thank you for everything! Your staff are amazing and we would not have made it through this difficult time without them!

Incompetent nurses and misleading website. The website clearly states that the environment must be kept peanut free. There's not one place in here that offers peanut free food. When I asked nurse "Kelly Dalgity" she said they couldn't do anything about it and to just take an epi pen. Insane that a nurse would tell someone to risk anaphylaxis as any basic healthcare worker knows someone could die from an anaphalaxis allergy.

Being told to grab a mask at entrance, I don't put it on because pandemic is over and no emergency exist. No issues walking around the hospital without mask, aside from everyone else wearing mask. Lady from ophthalmologist told me twice to put my mask on.

Had to bring the kids here a few times, and the staff are always friendly and approachable, and in particular they are great with the kids and make them feel at ease. Obviously given that we are in a pandemic right now, the wait times can be long, but blame the provincial government for underfunding the public health care system, not the hospital and their staff who do a great job.

emergency room area needs a complete overhaul. it is consistently filthy , waiting "room" is actually hallways filled with chairs and sick people clogging the hall which staff and visitors must walk past to access the rest of the hospital. This entrance is a high risk area for spreading germs and disease to the rest of the hospital. Staff were excellent and my son recieved very good care.

Absolutely unexceptable wait time. I came in 5 hours expected wait time. Then at 5 hours and 20 minutes was told it would probably be another hour and a half. How can children's hospital have wait times like this!

I stabbed my pp so i went here, great stuff

Their doctors are bullies. Do not go there.

All I can say is God bless all the stuff @ the diabetes clinic and dr. Hadjiyannakis is the best doctor 👩‍⚕️ in the face of our planet 🌎. God bless and protect them all.❤️

Our 2 year old son was in for blood work a little over a week ago & the process was quick & painless despite having issues finding a good vein. The tech was extremely professional & made sure to get everything over & done with as efficiently & fast as possible which we really appreciated :) Out little guy needed another visit this afternoon for an unrelated matter (emergency department) & we are ecstatic to report that from the time of being registered to the time of leaving, my husband & son were there for a total of only an hour & 15 minutes- woohoo! Thank you for your continued exemplary care, CHEO. With 4 kids, we are so grateful for all that you do!

Well, I heard a good one last night. A woman who had been staying with her daughter overnight for a few nights prior to last night, was going to see her daughter and bring her a few things from home. She paid for a taxi and everything. Arrived at the hospital as normal. She went through reception and COVID screening with no problems, had a bracelet placed on her wrist, and was about to go see her child. However, when she became a little bit lost in the facility and took a few mins too long to find the elevator to go up to her child's floor, she was aggressively approached by an authority figure who wanted to pretend he was a security guard and asked her a bunch of intrusive personal information questions about herself and the nature of her visit. She cooperated with him and told him that the nurses had asked her to bring some personal items from home for her daughter and both the nurses and her daughter were expecting her. He said that he had just talked to the nurses on her daughter's floor (which is highly doubtful) and that they said nobody is allowed up there. He then threatened to call the police on her if she didn't leave immediately and told her she is not allowed to come back there again either. He said if she wants to see her daughter then she should use a Zoom Call while he proceeded to escort her out the door of the building. I guess this is the part where the owner will regurgitate the same old tired message of the complaints being important to him and taken seriously and then referred to the "Patient and Family Representative" It's basically his only real recourse. Along with the email address he is also so proud of. Is this the great CHEO? The CHEO we are constantly hounded to donate money to. The CHEO which is bragged about on the News and held up as a cornerstone of our society? Maybe on top of calling the numbers that the owner is so obsessed with, maybe she should actually call a different number as well. The number of a good lawyer!

I'm waiting with my son now for more than 5 hours and we are waiting in a room for more than an hour with no update or whatsoever. My son is only 16months old and has 40 degree fever...nobody even checks whether he needs anything... what a terrible place for a kid to be....honestly what is that?? is this supposed to be a health care service??? I am giving it a few more minutes and then I'm gone, my baby can better rest in bed than being stuck here for hours and hours with no care in sight. Apparently there is no difference between an adult or child care hospital....same story but different labeling...

Born with hypoglycaemia transferred to Toronto when I was 3 months then transferred back to Cheo they took care of me for 16+ years of my life and still look after me every 3 months (I was diagnosed with diabetes at 10 years old) really grateful for all their help and support. CHEO if you see this Thanks for everything!

Great hospital. I’ve gone there all my life a lot of my old doctors would say hi to me in the halls. The staff are all very friendly and knowledgeable.

45 min wait time was more like 7hrs. Yikes. I guess their website isn't as accurate. The staff was great but they (our health system ) need to find a way to not have sick kids sitting down for that long + parents losing their minds trying to entertain them. The wait in the actual room is worse, they could put some sort of toys in there? Other than the decoration at the front, the ER is quite cold and scary like regular hospitals.

My daughter took her son to Cheo by ambulance on December 18 at 10:30 pm. She was told by parametric he was having a seizure due to high fever. Upon arrival she went In a waiting room holding her son waiting for a room. She didn't get a room until 7 am calling a nurse when she felt her son was getting hotter. Nurse would then give him meds without checking his vials. She waited till change of shifts before a dr finally looked at him, this was around 7:30 am. Dr was concerned with the high fever and then took a covid test which was Negative. He was sent home telling her to give meds every 2 hours. Needless to say she was exhausted and tired. Hospital says only 1 parent per child was aloud. There were alot of couples accompanied the child.

I recently visited CHEO on January 15,2021 and cannot say enough positive things about my experience. I’m a first time mother to an 11 month old little boy who was advised by an urgent care physician to bring him to CHEO. This was my very first time entering the hospital as a mother ( the last time I was in the exact hospital was when I was 10), needless to say I was incredibly anxious and concerned as any mother would be. The COVID screen was fast and efficient, we were greeted by a triage nurse who was absolutely wonderful. She was so caring and kind to my little one as she completed an assessment. We were brought promptly to a room and visited by Nurse Stephanie who was absolutely amazing. I was fully prepared to be waiting several hours, I notice many complaining of wait times and I feel like parents forget that this is an emergency centre for children. At any minute doctors , nurses and specialists may have to attend to a child in a life threatening situation which most people waiting are not aware of. We were attended to by a resident Dr.Hoang ( I’m so sorry if this is not the proper spelling of her name). She was extremely knowledgeable, professional and made my 11 month old incredibly comfortable with all things considered. Nurse Stephanie continued to check in and ask if we needed anything , checking my sons temperature and ensuring he was ok. Dr. Fathi was the last physician to see my son, she was absolutely wonderful and made a worrying mom feel so much better. The doctors , nurses and staff at this hospital are in a category above anything else. They provide the highest level medical care to our children and I cannot speak more highly of them. I would absolutely bring my child back to this hospital as I trust their medical knowledge and abilities to be best in class. Thank you so much CHEO for taking such wonderful care of my son and a very anxious mom. You are all amazing.

Very professional and courteous staff and good care of kids. Emergency waiting room has TV for kids shows, and numerous phone charging cables. Parking is mainly under sky.

The staff here is always so great. Waited about 90 minutes to see a doctor. Everyone from the nurses to doctors to the cleaning staff are friendly to the kids.

I had to come to CHEO for bladder problems for 7 yrs and had to do exercises and stuff. In urology with doctor Clode I think her name is. I mean she’s a nurse but yeah. And once when I fractured my wrist the people in the rooms were really nice same with when I had to do ultrasounds dr. Clode helped me through a lot and I rlly want to thank her I can’t think of anything that can thank her though for what she has don’t for me same with all the people who did ultrasounds in me and actually made it fun and named it something weird Jelly Belly I think or something like that to and one who works at CHEO can u plzz show this to dr. Clode and all the doctors that helped me in the past 7 yrs. this is the also the place that encouraged me to want to become some type of dr. even when we were late to an appointment we would always get in right away and not have to wait until there is a spot or reschedule for another appointment. Thank u to all staff in urology that helped me through all this

Every time was walked in to emergency excellent care and service was provided. This review is for the appointment booking team. We were booked appointment twice with out our knowldege and confirmation. Doctor call us directly to our suprise and we not being aware or kids with us. Then get accused of we not being ready and will cancel apts. Herr we are eagerly and patiently waiting for our kids to be looked and easily blamed to be careless inspite of looking into the booking procedure and tracking it. So much confusion Nd my heart aches now I have to wait for few months again to be called.

Absolutely despicable place. Making people wait 16 hours with ONE doctor in ER for children?!?!? Not a person in sight to ask anything, and pure disregard. Abhorrent. Truly not enough words to express my utter disgust with the inner workings of this place. Honestly shameful, cruel and inhumane!

by far the best hospital. i went there because of some sort of pneumonia. they were really nice and the time i spend there was wonderful. i suppose it does depend on the staff you end up with, because i did hear some bad things from my friend.

5-star for world class doctors, supporting staffs and facilities. 1- star for administration During our 1-month stay at the hospital they moved us around 6 different rooms in 22 days, we refused to let them move us 8 days before we left the hospital other wise we would have stayed in 7 different rooms in 30 days. I hope the reason was due to bad administration and not something else.

Caring staff. Even under the added stress of COVID!

Went to CHEO after my son ended up with a "buckle fracture" from football. The doctors and nurses were the best I have ever dealt with. They had genuine smiles on their faces and really cared for my son. The initial wait was a bit long, but once we spoke with the first nurse everything went smoothly. We arrived at 10pm, had XRAYs, was put in a cast and on our way by 210am. We were so very happy to go to CHEO as opposed to other hospitals which were closer to us.

They keep the kids in the rating disorder clinic too long and they don't do a follow up plan when they release them. It is very disappointing. Their on site doctors are very caring and thorough though but once the child leaves the follow up care is very bad.

I can't say just how impressed I was with the care I received yesterday and earlier today at CHEO. Even though I was discharged with no clear diagnosis, everyone was really trying to get to the cause of my pain (I fully understand why they weren't able to give an immediate diagnosis, my symptoms were very odd). Shout out to everyone who made me confortable and provided me with great, (mostly) fast service, including: Sasha (ED), Sarah (Ultrasound), Dr. Nazeer, Dr. Fischer (Both ED), Dr. Byrns, Dr. Bass and Dr. Pastor (All three in surgery), as well as porter Robert and Catherine in the pharmacy. Most importantly though; huge kudos to nurses Jessica, Alexandra and Feb on the west 4th floor who made me feel at home at CHEO. You guys are awesome. Stay cool!

The docters are very kind, I dident like was that I had a gash on my head and I had to sit in a wait room with nothing to do for 2 hours and 30 minutes. And then we came out of the wait room to do something with one of the kind docters and then went back in the wait room for another 45 minutes.

They have been very helpful in the past for me. Dr Palframan has been the best doctor there to help me at the time. He is honest and direct. I thank him for everthing.

I'm too old to go to cheo now but I miss it. Everyone there was super nice

If I could make it 0/5 I would.

This place slaps. Great staff and always very helpful

We went to the Kids Come First Care clinic. The booking was fairly easy! New appointments get released at midnight. They took us in right away and we got put in a room. You can go for anything non emergency related i believe. The nurses were super friendly. One of the nurses took out her own personal phone and played Cocomelon for my toddler who was upset. She was given stickers and a popsicle as well! I liked that we got to stay in our own room for the whole time and didn’t have to wait in the waiting room.

Doctors, nurses and staff are courteous, professional and compassionate. Certainly helps while your child is suffering of an illness. Thank You!👍

Outstanding staff, equipment and facilities.

It is nice to see that when a true emergency, the system can move into action. My son was admitted on a Monday and had emergency surgery on Wednesday. Everyone has been kind, patient, and understanding. Thank you to the neurosurgery team for all their hard work and support for us and our child through a very difficult time. Highly recommended!

The best hospital for children we have ever seen. We were able to see our friend and they made them feel loved and safe. We love donating and supporting CHEO. Thank you for working so hard.

I am not from Ottawa so my expectations and experiences differ from locals. When compared to the City I live in, Ottawa has an exceptional children's hospital. The staff are so many wonderful things, but knowledgeable stands out to me. The staff in all departments I have had to deal with: doctors, nurses, attendants, parking and security have all been exceptionally great. I know our grandson is getting wonderful care.

The worst hospital I have been to, having lived in UK and The Netherlands as well. Healthcare in Canada has gotten so awful lately, there are no family doctors available for newcomers to Ottawa so CHEO ER is the only option for children under 4. (Appletree and walkin clinics do not see babies) As a result, wait times are about 2x what is advertised online, expect to wait around 7-8 hours in the ER. Completely unacceptable. Every time i had to go for my daughter i was told they are "unusually busy today" which is total rubbish. Wait times aside, the triage nurse was awful. After an 8 hour wait the doctor was with my child for perhaps 90 seconds. Rush rush rush, "oh but Covid Covid Covid" as if Ottawa/Canada are the only places in the world dealing with covid... Emergency room is FULL of toddlers running around making noise, yelling, playing (CLEARLY not in need of urgent care) but with NO FAMILY DOCTORS TAKING PATIENTS IN ONTARIO, can you blame them?

The doctor and nurses at cheo are angels! They saved my son and gave us amazing service. The second i got there i begged for help and some amazing nurses listened helped my son right away, with no hesitation. They were calm, kind and super responsive. Of course there's times where we got moved alot, and it was a very a scary time for us and we had to stand up for our family, we know that many of the staff Members there do their jobs because they love what they do. I really want to thank Dr Olivier and Dr Mona. You rock! If there's any way I can thank these amazing people, I'd love to send them a gift, a card... anything !!!! Please let me know how I can do this! Thank you

I had to go to CHEO when I was younger. I didn't get to say thank you to all the Staff. Well please permit me to say thank you now. I know it's been many years ago, but the Staff were all awesome. May God Bless the children, the Staff and all of their Families. Thank you to all of the Staff for their service especially during the pandemic. Cheers. 🙏😃😷😘❤❤❤💛💛💛💚💚💚❤❤💛💛💚💚❤💛💚❤❤❤👍👍👍👍🇨🇦

My son was struggling with a fever, wheezing cough, and breathing difficulties. We had several sleepless nights before finally going to CHEO. Nurse Catherine Butler was very attentive and supportive. Dr. Irfan Moledina was highly attentive, patiently addressed my questions, quickly identified the problem, and helped my son. I want to express my deep gratitude for their care and support.