Annual Report 2022-2023: North York General Hospital

Submitted by Dr. David Koczerginski, Psychiatrist-in-Chief

The Mental Health Program at North York General Hospital (NYGH) is a comprehensive service providing sub-specialty care across the lifespan including child and adolescent, seniors, perinatal, consultation liaison, eating disorders, ACTT, mental health & justice and addiction services.

Over the year 2022 – 2023 NYGH has continued to focus on community partnerships in the development of the North York Toronto Health Partners (NYTHP) OHT. A quality improvement (QI) focus has been on improving access and reducing wait times in a Stepped Care model guided by risk, complexity and patient need. As a part of this process, the Day Hospital Program has been redesigned into two streams focused on providing rapid follow up post discharge for patients with primary psychotic illness and mood disorders, in keeping with Health Quality Ontario practice standards. Consistent with the stepped care implementation we have initiated weekly adult outpatient mental health interprofessional rounds and a streamlined access to a centralized CBT outpatient clinic. Next steps in the process will involve expansion of DBT and trauma informed group programs. We anticipate the opening of a new mental health emergency services unit in the Fall of 2023.