Toronto's Population Boom Turning Into a Hospital Shortage

Downtown Toronto has grown and its hospitals are struggling to keep up with growing demand for their services.

1 minute read

November 4, 2016, 5:00 AM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


Toronto Construction

ValeStock / Shutterstock

In Toronto, hospitals are serving more people, which is stretching their resources thin. "As downtown Toronto’s population has skyrocketed in the past decade, tens of thousands of patients have streamed out of their new condos and into the hospitals on their collective doorstep," according to a story by Kelly Grant in the Globe and Mail.

This demand is not just coming from a condo boom but also an influx of people coming to the city center to work. Grant reports, "Annual emergency department visits increased by 43 percent at the Hospital for Sick Children, 45 percent at Mount Sinai Hospital and 59 percent at Toronto General Hospital, which is also part of the University Health Network." Hospital officials expressed concern about how this increase in patients could affect all the healthcare services the facilities provide, from surgeries to emergency medicine.

Sunday, October 30, 2016 in Toronto Globe and Mail

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Wastewater pouring out from a pipe.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage

Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

April 13, 2025 - Inside Climate News

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Black and white photos of camp made up of small 'earthquake shacks' in Dolores Park in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees

More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

April 15, 2025 - Charles F. Bloszies

People walking up and down stairs in New York City subway station.

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving

Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

April 18 - Scientific American

White public transit bus with bike on front bike rack in Nashville, Tennessee.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan

Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

April 18 - Bloomberg CityLab

An engineer controlling a quality of water ,aerated activated sludge tank at a waste water treatment plant.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding

The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.

April 18 - Smart Cities Dive