Our staff is committed to providing compassionate care with the best possible outcomes and the lowest risk. Learn how we provide care that is child friendly.
Medical Imaging Hot Line – 416-756-6186 Reports Desk – 416-756-6168 Film Library – 416-756-6169 CT Booking – 416-756-6190 MRI Booking – 416-756-6118 Ultrasound Booking – 416-756-6176 Angiography/Interventional Radiology Booking – 416-756-6189 Inpatient Booking – 416-756-6000 ext. 3380
Medical Imaging Outpatient and Community Services Centre
General Booking – 416-756-6931
Requests for Copies of Medical Imaging Examinations
Patients who need copies of medical images will be asked to complete and sign a release form before the images are provided. This is to ensure that patients are provided the right images and privacy is protected.
If someone else will be picking your images for you, please complete the release form. Be sure to include the name of the person who will be doing the pick up. If you prefer to write a letter rather than complete the form, please include the following information:
Your full name, date of birth and health card number
The type of images requested and dates taken (or hospital visit date)
The name of the person who will be picking up the CD of your images
Please Note: The person picking up the images must provide Medical Imaging with your release form or letter. They will also be asked to provide photo identification and to sign your release form or letter to confirm receipt of your images. Allow 24 hours for us to process your request for film and CD pickup.
Your privacy is important to us and we appreciate your cooperation in helping us make sure that your personal health information is protected.
Online access to imaging records through PocketHealth
Patients and their families now have online access to their medical imaging records
Instead of picking up at CD, an online service, PocketHealth, now offers North York General patients and their families access to their medical imaging records online.
In the North York Navigator follow the link to Get Your Diagnostic Images through PocketHealth.
Continue with your Ontario trusted account to easily enrol using your unique patient digital identity.
Once enrolled, you can view your entire available medical imaging history from NYGH, share imaging instantly with any physician or even create a USB/CD from home. For information regarding PocketHealth membership plans and fees please visit Patients | PocketHealth.
If you wish to pick up an Access Page which will provide your care provider with secure online access to your imaging records, please call our Film Library at 416-756-6169 and we will fax this access page directly to your physician.
Patients can also easily access and share their imaging records online by visiting:PocketHealth .
If you are a physician, external hospital or imaging clinic wishing to learn more about the Access Page you received, you can download the following PDF:
PACS is an information technology system that replaces the traditional film and the film handling infrastructure both within a Medical Imaging department and throughout an entire hospital.
Imaging modalities (CT, MRI, general radiography, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, mammography) send image information digitally over the hospital network to a central system (database and image storage). From this central system, images are distributed instantly as required to computer workstations for primary diagnosis by radiologists and to clinical areas such as Emergency, Critical Care Unit, and the Operating Room. Radiologists can view images on PACS through remote access during a consultation with the ER after hours. PACS provides quicker results to the ER physician and also serves as a secure archive, eliminating the need for film storage.
Health Diagnostic Imaging Repository Services (HDIRS)
North York General Hospital (NYGH) is now sending diagnostic images, with the exception of nuclear medicine cardiology images, to HDIRS (Health Diagnostic Imaging Repository Services). This is an imaging data centre where NYGH is one of 36 member hospitals of the corporation. When fully operational, the data centre will allow radiologists and other health care providers to access patients’ current and historical diagnostic images.
There are many benefits to HDIRS. For example, when a patient is admitted to one of these hospitals or transferred from one hospital to another, the need to wait for CDs or to repeat diagnostic examinations is eliminated. The patient’s treatment time is shortened.
Film library
The film library is a key part of the Medical Imaging Department, responsible primarily for the maintenance of images that are on films as well as the transferring of digital images onto CDs. The use of film in Medical Imaging has been gradually replaced by digital images through the use of PACS.
Hours and contact information
General site: Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tel: 416-756-6169
North York General Hospital’s Medical Imaging Department has expanded its MRI services to better serve physicians and the patients and families they care for. This expansion of basic MRI services is helping North York General provide faster and more accurate diagnoses to the 450,000 people in our community.
Patients must be referred by their physician or other health care provider.
Print our flyer containing important information on coming for an MRI after hours.
Directions and parking information to North York General, General site,
4001 Leslie Street., Toronto (Sheppard Avenue East and Leslie Street)
If you are coming to the General site for an MRI after hours:
Park in the Visitors’ Parking
Enter through Entrance 1 South, near the Visitors’ Parking.
Enter through the door to the right of the revolving door. A second door leads to the lobby located on the ground floor.
If the second door is locked, please press the buzzer located on the inside wall of the first door (if you are facing the lobby, the buzzer is behind you). A security officer will arrive to unlock the door.
Upon request, and if available, a security officer can provide an escort after your appointment to return to your vehicle.
Medical Imaging is located on the 1st floor, so you will need to take the elevator up one floor. Directional signs are also posted throughout the hospital.
Our goal in Medical Imaging is to have children leave the department with a smile. It is important for all of us that parent and child come away from Medical Imaging knowing the job was well done by professionals who really do care.
Our skilled and courteous Medical Imaging team works to provide the best care possible so that parents and children have a positive experience. Although the procedures for each modality may be slightly different, here’s what you can expect when you bring a child to Medical Imaging:
Being prepared — By examining the schedule, our technologists know a child is coming in. They ensure the appropriate equipment for the child’s needs is readily available.
Parent can be with their child — Parents are encouraged to be with their child during most Medical Imaging procedures. For procedures involving radiation, we practice radiation protection for both the parent and child. Parents put on a lead apron and their example helps make it easier to put a smaller apron on the child when the exam ordered permits this (for example, when the area being x-rayed is not the pelvis).
It is our policy to limit the radiation doses for all patients. We are guided by the ALARA principle, (As Low As Reasonably Achievable).
Child friendly — We explain to a child in words that they can understand.
Lowest radiation dose — We practice the ALARA principle, (As Low As Reasonably Achievable), that is, the lowest dose of radiation will be used to achieve the best images. For example, during a CT, the scanner is programmed to scan based on the child’s weight in order to ensure we achieve diagnostic images at the lowest possible radiation dose.
Importance of good images — It can be challenging to have an injured or ill child, who may be afraid and crying, remain still long enough to get quality images. Any movement can cause a blurry image that will need to be repeated. In order to prevent this movement Medical Imaging utilizes special equipment to help hold the child in place in a gentle yet effective manner. Our professional and efficient technologists strive to take good quality images the first time.
Fewer images needed for children — We adjust our procedures whenever possible to allow for less images, thereby reducing the radiation as well as the length of the exam.
Digital images — All general radiography images are filmless and are generated electronically on the computer. Filmless images provide enhanced image quality, increased efficiency, speed and security. In the past, images on film that were too dark needed to be retaken, but digital radiography lets us brighten the image on the computer.
This technology helps us to be even more child friendly because we can do the work more quickly and efficiently. Young patients spend less time in the room and get better results.
PACS saves critical time — Our Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS) is an information technology system that stores and distributes images. Minutes after we take an image, it is on PACS and available to be viewed by our physicians at the General Site and Branson Ambulatory Care Centre. In fact, our physicians (usually radiologists on call) can access images from their office or home computer.
A child with a possible head injury arriving in Emergency late at night can have her CT scans sent to a radiologist’s home minutes after they are taken. The radiologist will make a diagnosis and communicate quickly to the Emergency physician by phone so the best treatment for the child can begin promptly. This technology saves times, critical minutes that can mean a real difference to a child’s outcome.
