Michael Garron Hospital in Code Grey, some Information Technology systems affected

(Sept. 26, 2019) Toronto – On Sept. 25 at approximately 2 a.m., Michael Garron Hospital went into a code grey and opened a command centre to respond to the issue. Code grey is an information technology (IT) system disruption affecting some of the hospital’s clinical and administrative applications.

MGH discovered a virus on one of the IT systems and proactively took down a number of information systems to investigate the issue, prevent the spread of further damage, and protect patient information. It was later identified that the issue was a result of malware, a newer variant of a virus called Ryuk. Patient privacy has not been compromised.

MGH’s Emergency Department remains open and fully operational; however, some non-urgent appointments in other areas have been rescheduled. If patients or clients have questions about their appointments, please contact: 416-469-6580 ext. 2665.

“While we hope these types of situations never take place, our expert hospital teams prepare for all issues and we have extensive processes in place to respond quickly when experiencing disruptions in clinical services. We want to reassure our community that all current patients at MGH continue to receive safe, high-quality care from our health care teams,” says Sarah Downey, president and CEO, MGH.

“Our priority is to restore full computer functionality as quickly as possible and we apologize to the small number of patients whose care has been re-scheduled. I am so grateful to our staff, physicians, leaders and volunteers who have worked exceptionally hard and put in extra hours during this time to ensure safe, quality care to our community.”

 We are working to restore service as soon as possible:

• MGH has restored access to some clinical systems and will be working over the next few days to fully restore all systems.

• At this time, the hospital does not anticipate any additional service cancellations, however we are assessing services on a regular basis and calling any patients in advance of cancellations.

• Please be advised that we are unable to send or receive emails outside of the organization at this time. If patients or clients are trying to reach Patient Relations, we advise that they phone: 416-469-6096.

The safety of patients and clients is a top priority and we are working diligently to restore full service as soon as possible. During this extended IT downtime, we are adding extra staff and volunteers across the hospital. We are also meeting regularly with clinical leaders and physicians across the organization to continuously re-assess and provide updates on all units. We will also continue to update our website (www.tehn.ca) and Twitter account to inform the public of any pertinent changes to services.