What to know:

  • St. Michael’s Hospital has opened the doors to an expanded and redesigned ambulatory area of its Slaight Family Emergency Department.
  • The new BMO Ambulatory Care Area will help reduce crowding, shorten wait times, and improve safety and privacy by helping patients move through care more smoothly based on the type of care they need.
  • Ambulatory care supports patients who can walk in, have less severe injuries or illness, and can go home the same day. These patients make up about 60 per cent of the nearly 70,000 visits to St. Michael’s emergency department every year.
  • As part of the expansion, The Rotary Club of Toronto Transition Centre has moved into the emergency department. The Centre connects people experiencing homelessness to shelter and ongoing support.

When Dr. Steve Lin goes to work these days as an emergency physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, he’s struck by how much has changed. 

Gone are the cramped hallways – now, Lin cares for patients and collaborates with his colleagues in a modern, open and expanded space with comfortable waiting and triage areas, plus private, specialized rooms designed with patients’ needs in mind.

“For patients who are already feeling vulnerable when they arrive, how they move through the space makes a real difference – and it certainly makes a difference for our clinical teams,” says Lin, Chief of Emergency Medicine at St. Michael’s. “We want our patients’ experiences to be as smooth and welcoming as possible and this new space helps make that easier for everyone.” 

Dr. Steve Lin, Chief of Emergency Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital

The expanded Slaight Family Emergency Department has more than doubled its original footprint to span an entire city block, making it one of the largest emergency departments in Toronto. Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, helped to celebrate the grand opening this month.

“Thank you to the incredible team at St. Michael’s Hospital and to the amazing healthcare workers at Unity Health Toronto and across our city for your dedication, your compassion and the tremendous impact you have on people’s lives every day,” Minister Jones said.

Of the 70,000 visits to the St. Michael’s emergency department each year, approximately 60 per cent are ambulatory, meaning patients can walk in, have less severe injuries or illness, and can go home the same day. 

The expansion – called the BMO Ambulatory Care Area – replaces the hospital’s nearly 100-year-old Shuter wing. Its thoughtful design helps these walk-in patients move through the space smoothly based on the type of care they need, ultimately helping to reduce crowding, shorten wait times and improve safety and privacy. 

Patients walk into a new entrance off Shuter Street that is separate from ambulance arrivals, helping to reduce the exposure to more serious emergency situations and making it easier for them to move faster. Once inside, they find a modern, purpose-built environment with bright and comfortable waiting and triage spaces, as well as dedicated, specialized areas for less serious and more urgent cases. 

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“In emergency care, the space patients enter shapes their experience and care,” says Altaf Stationwala, President and CEO of Unity Health Toronto. “The expansion of our Slaight Family Emergency Department gives our care teams what they need to deliver faster, more connected, and more patient-centred care, from trauma services to specialized care, right here as downtown Toronto’s only trauma centre.” 

St. Michael’s is one of Canada’s top trauma care hospitals, meaning patients from across Ontario with urgent or life-threatening conditions are rushed here by air and ambulance to be cared for by elite specialty care teams. It is one of only a handful of hospitals outside of the United States verified as a Level 1 Trauma Centre by the American College of Surgeons. That verification, awarded in 2023, means injured patients receive the highest quality care informed by the best available evidence from an elite trauma team with support from radiology, transfusion medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, research, rehabilitation, emergency preparedness, anesthesiology, intensive care and more.

The newly expanded emergency department was designed with this expertise in mind as well. 

Patients with the most urgent conditions get immediate care in a dedicated space. Among the renovated 36 acute treatment rooms in the Arrell Acute Care Area, for example, are four special isolation rooms for patients with airborne illnesses and dedicated rooms for mental health care in the Mental Health Services Area (MHESA).  

At St. Michael’s, where nearly one in six emergency department patients are experiencing homelessness, the new ambulatory area also helps strengthen connections to supports after they leave the hospital. The Rotary Club of Toronto Transition Centre, funded by The Rotary Club of Toronto, was moved into the emergency department from another area of the hospital to make access to services more convenient. The centre helps people experiencing homelessness to access shelter, essential services and coordinated care planning without having to navigate other parts of the hospital. 

“The centre shows our commitment to health equity and meeting people where they are, with compassionate care and support from our care teams for people experiencing homelessness,” says Stationwala. 

The ambulatory area also supports a team-based model of care, with a layout organized around shared workspaces and clear sightlines so teams can collaborate, communicate, monitor patients closely and respond as a coordinated unit. 

“The new ambulatory space was intentionally planned in close consultation with frontline teams,” says Jacqueline Chen, Senior Clinical Program Director at Unity Health Toronto. “Together, physicians, nurses, health disciplines, and support staff can work in a more connected environment. The design helps strengthen coordination of care while creating a bright and welcoming space for both patients and staff.” 

Lin says the impact of the new space is already being felt.

“This new layout and environment are actively shaping how people in the emergency department are moving and collaborating,” he says. “I have noticed a renewed energy in our teams and patients are feeling calmer and better informed. We’re all excited to be supporting care journeys that are more seamless and centred on patient needs.” 

Looking Ahead

The final phase of The Slaight Family Emergency Department development includes a modern diagnostic imaging hub that will operate 24/7. Expected to open in 2027, the imaging hub will bring Computed Tomography (CT), X-ray and ultrasound services directly into the emergency department, helping patients get tests faster and receive results sooner, and supporting overall emergency department visits.  

As health care needs continue to grow, the ambulatory area was designed with future expansion in mind. 

“The podium that houses the emergency department’s ambulatory area was structurally designed to support a future patient care tower on the site,” says Michael Keen, Vice President of Facilities and Planning and Chief Planning Officer at Unity Health Toronto. “This forward-looking design gives us the ability to expand vertically and accelerate future development when needed, helping us meet growing health care demands efficiently and effectively.” 

Transforming emergency care at St. Michael’s required bold vision and partnerships between the hospital, government and extraordinary donors. The Slaight Family Emergency Department was also made possible because of the Government of Ontario and through the leadership support of Gary and Donna Slaight, Ada Slaight and The Slaight Family Foundation.  

Key spaces within the department were also supported by The Arrell Family Foundation, which also made the Arrell Acute Care Area possible, and BMO Financial Group, whose support helped create the BMO Ambulatory Care Area—alongside many generous donors who came together to help redefine care for some of the city’s most critically ill patients.

By Emilita Dela Cruz

Photos by Kevin Van Paassen & Eduardo Lima

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