We are committed to providing a safe and respectful environment for all patients, families, and staff. This includes protecting your privacy, ensuring your child’s personal health information stays confidential, and supporting the presence of caregivers while maintaining a secure hospital setting.
Below, you’ll find information about caregiver access, visiting hours, and our approach to privacy and security.
Privacy and Confidentiality for you and your child
We can only share information about a paediatric patient with their parent(s) or legal guardian(s). To help keep everyone updated, consider choosing one family member as the main contact person who can share updates with others.
When calling the unit, please give your child’s full name and ask to speak with their nurse. We do our best to answer calls, but it may be harder during nursing shift changes, which happen daily from 6:45–7:30 a.m. and 6:45–7:30 p.m.
At LHSC, we respect our patient’s rights regarding their health information, including your right to:
- Consent or refuse collection, use, and disclosure of personal health information (PHI);
- Access your PHI and to make requests to correct your PHI;
- Be notified if your PHI is accessed inappropriately and request an audit;
- Know to whom your PHI has been disclosed; and
- Challenge the hospital’s compliance with privacy laws
Visit the Privacy Information and Office page to learn more about how your personal health information is used.
Caregiver Presence
Children’s Hospital is here to care for young patients, but we know that children – especially younger ones – often feel more comfortable with a parent or caregiver nearby. Your presence provides emotional support and important supervision between care team visits.
Every child’s needs are different, and some families may need to spend more time at the hospital than others. If you’re finding it hard to balance other responsibilities, please let us know. We can connect you with services like Ronald McDonald House or our Family Support team. In some cases, the care team may recommend more or less caregiver presence based on your child’s needs.
Access Control and Visitor Screening
The B Tower main entrance is open from 6:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. daily. After hours, the entrance is controlled by Security. Caregivers will need to check in with the security guard for permission to enter. The parking garage entrance is open 24 hours, but after hours you will need to check in with Security.
Zone D Entrances on Level 2 and Level 3 are locked from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and Zone D Level 4 and Zone B Level 8 are locked 24/7. Visiting will be restricted to protect the privacy and safety of other patients.
Flowers and Balloons
Flowers at Victoria Hospital are delivered by florist delivery service providers. Flowers can also be bought at the Garden Shoppe and B1 Victoria’s Place at Victoria Hospital. Certain units do not allow flowers. Please check with the nurses’ station before sending flowers.
Please Note: Poinsettias are not permitted within LHSC. Poinsettias contain a compound which is similar to that found in rubber latex and can cause a severe allergic reaction either through touch or inhalation.
Latex balloons are forbidden at LHSC due to the increasing number of latex allergies in the hospital.
Smoking
In compliance with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, LHSC is a completely smoke-free facility. This applies to all buildings, grounds, and parking lots, and includes smoking in cars. Please see the maps for details on where the property boundaries exist for our hospital sites.
LHSC’s smoke-free policy includes cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars or pipes containing burning tobacco, or any other substance (such as marijuana) that can be smoked in any other manner. During your hospital stay, smoking cessation support is available from your care team.
Exemption for Traditional Use of Tobacco by Indigenous Persons
As per the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, Exemption for Traditional Use of Tobacco by Indigenous Persons, LHSC provides a space for Indigenous people to use tobacco for traditional, cultural, or spiritual purposes.
