Winchester Hospital

I’ve been going to Winchester Hospital and all of its locations/​offices for years. I would never go anywhere else. I’ve been here for major surgeries, emergency room visits, and even got my tonsils out here in high school. I have always found the entire staff to be pleasant and caring.

Expect to wait over 3 hours in the ER to not be seen by a doctor after being diagnosed by a NP with a «traumatic brain injury» and sent home with no further testing but a basic neurological exam. What a joke…

Two nights ago my niece brought Her infant son to Winchester because of persistent vomiting. They told her that it was due to constipation and gave him a suppository, which of course did not solve the problem. Today he is being operated on at Children’s Hospital for pyloric stenosis, a condition which the doctor at Winchester ruled out because he «didn’t look like a baby with pyloric stenosis». If that doctor had only Googled the symptoms like I did, he or she would have seen that his symptoms were EXACTLY those of that condition, and that he fit the age and gender profile of the typical patient with that condition exactly. I write this review to warn other parents not to bring their children there and with the hope that Winchester will implement some much needed improvements.

I just returned home after the birth of my 2^nd son delivered at Winchester Hospital. I cannot say enough positive things about the overall experience I had at the hospital, but specifically the nursing staff both in Labor & Delivery and in the Mother& Baby Unit. The nursing staff that I encountered (Maureen and Lora in Labor & Delivery and Jen, Lisa, Jackie and Claire in Mother & Baby) were the most compassionate and caring nurses I have ever encountered.

My fellow Unilocaler, if you are reading this because you are considering going to this ER — GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! I didn’t heed the Unilocal warnings and man, is it terrible. My dearest had an injured eye and this is our nearest ER.
After more than two hours of waiting we asked the none-​too-​pleasant scheduling lady if they could just provide just a very general ballpark sort of estimate on how much longer we’d be waiting. She said «We just can’t tell you that». I said, «not even if it’s like one more hour… two hours? We just need a general idea» The lady then turned away from me and yell-​announced to the (TWO other people in the) waiting room «THE REASON SOME OF YOU ARE WAITING LONGER IS BECAUSE WE HAVE OTHER PATIENTS WITH MORE CRITICAL NEEDS».
Yes. We are all familiar with the concept of «triage». Thank you, mean lady.
I called the Cambridge Hospital and they said they had no wait. So we bailed, drove over, and my dear one was whisked into an exam room within THREE MINUTES (I timed it) and was attended to by a physician in under 20 minutes.
How in this day and age — when hospitals actually post their wait times online — or even let you wait from home in some cases — can this group POSSIBLY be unable to give a general ballpark estimate on wait times? Especially with only two patients in the waiting room?
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

I’ve been coming to Winchester Hospital as a patient of various practitioners & as a patient in the ER & parent of patients in the ER for 15 years now. I’ve had mostly great experiences. I think the hospital is run well and Drs/​nurses/​technicians treat you with care and respect. I had 5 c-​sections here & no issues with regards to the care I received. I had a few complications with some of the pregnancies & post op & they were on top of everything. That being said, through all my stays & the numerous nurses you see while you are in recovery, there are always a few you just don’t like. When I had my c-​sections some of the nurses seemed like they couldn’t be bothered to take care of me, they’d rather chat it up at the nurses station or passed off a concern I had. That was just the case for a few of them, the others I saw were amazing! Really on top of things. It really depends on who is working while you are there. Some experiences will be great & some awful — it’s based on the care of Drs/​nurses there at the time. In the ER we have had times where we had to wait 4 – 5 hrs, but honestly I expect that. Only time we were seen immediately was when a member of my family walked in with chest pains. Most of the Drs & nurses in the ER are great. I had one arrogant male nurse who was absolutely awful a few years ago, I told him as well that I didn’t like his attitude & he spit in the water he gave me, nice huh? But the Doctor at that visit was great. I haven’t seen him since and it’s been years so hopefully he is gone. As far as pediatric care in the ER, that can be so so. Like I mentioned previously, it depends on who you get and it’s always someone new. The Drs are from Children’s, residents I think. I felt the pediatric experiences have been good. We went into Boston Children’s hospital a few times instead of Winchester for one of our kids & it was a horrible experience. Clueless resident drs, scary uneducated nurses — I was shocked! Maybe if it wasn’t 1:00a.m. We would have gotten better care at BCH. As far as Winchester Hospital goes, it is good. Better than other local town hospitals (really wish they didn’t partner w/​Lahey) it’s clean, knowledgable providers & good nurses & medical technicians. If you have an issue with your care, just address it with them while you are there, you can speak to the head nurse etc. overall, I like it here & will continue to go.

I think the people working in central scheduling could be a little more friendly. I had to call to reschedule an imaging event and the woman on the other end of the line was so miserable and robotic. She made me feel like I was bothering her

We took my daughter to Winchester Hospital ER on a Saturday afternoon at the direction of her primary care doctor. She was having a very severe reaction to an antibiotic. Her fever was hovering around 103. She was covered in an angry rash. Her eyes were stinging and she couldn’t keep them open. She had blisters in her mouth and throat. In Triage they determined that her condition wasn’t life threatening because her throat wasn’t closing up and she could still speak. We were sent to the waiting room where we sat for two hours. We went back to the desk after the two hours feeling rather frantic and explained to them that she was getting worse and needed to be seen. They treated us like hysterical parents that needed to be slightly coddled but not really listened to. They took another look at her, determined that she did seem worse but her throat wasn’t closing so they offered her a stretcher so that she could lie down and they made us wait ANOTHER TWO HOURS. When we were finally escorted into an ER room the doctor made an immediate determination that she needed to be admitted to either Winchester or Children’s immediately. We chose Children’s, thank God. You see, my daughter was suffering from an extreme reaction, life threatening reaction to an antibiotic. It’s called Stevens Johnson Syndrome and the ER doctor knew it. They drew blood from her at Winchester, which they never used, and sent her in an ambulance to Children’s where we were treated with respect and the immediate attention she needed was delivered to her.
Unless you’re willing to risk having the Winchester ER Triage team misdiagnose your child’s, or your own, rare but life threatening illness I wouldn’t set foot in it. I know I will never go back and I hope those nurses can sleep at night.

Current length of call to the billing office: 31:38.
Called the main number and before I could get two words out of my mouth, I get interrupted and transferred to medical records.
Then medical records transfers me to billing, where I repeat the spelling of my name 4 times. And my address. And my name. And my address. And my DOB.
Ridiculous. She can’t answer my question so she places me on hold again for a supervisor.
This is experience is not AT ALL reflective of the image winchester hospital projects. This is horrifying.
This is health care.
God bless America.

This week my lil unfortunately had a cold and I took him to the Dr (assuming it was nothing) Doctor sent me to the ER (she suggested Winchester Hospital) never been there & didnt know what to think…
So off we go, got right into Triage, put right in a room in the ER (might have helped that it was a 4 month old with a Breathing Problem)
Xrays, Nebulizer Treatment, we are then told we need to be admitted — WHAT, WOW? And here I was at home thinking It was nothing!
So we spend the night — nurses were all great, staff was wonderful, Bed wasnt the most comfy thing in the world, but hey I got to stay with my Lil Man!
Next morning they sent up a Complimentary Parent Tray of food, that was nice!
Got us a Nebulizer and then sent us on our way. I thank the hospital for helping my little guy & they were nice enough for everything, My Dr referred me there as she stated they have a whole Pediatric unit as my hospital doesnt & if things were needed I would have been sent there anyway — It is run by Childrens Hospital… so yes for Children I would recommend them!

I LOVE Winchester Hospital-​and I live within walking distance of Lahey Clinic (I wouldnt want to die in there lol)
I had my son there and they couldnt have been nicer– even offered a special ‘parents only’ gourmet meal with us and the baby (this of course was years ago– not sure if they do that now)
Its my go-​to hospital for the ER– Been there several times in the past few years as well– They are as efficient as a triage can be– both with injuries AND illness.
Ive been admitted there as well for a pretty serious condition and again — helpful and pleasant nurses/staff.-Even the food isnt bad.
The only thing I dont like is the parking– they need MORE room.

Damien S to radiology; Damien S to radiology.
Quiet campus nestled off 93 and ready ²⁴⁄₇ to show you what’s broke. Intake took my new patient info in three minutes, and radiology shot electromagnetic particles INTO MY BODY in about the same time.
There’s still a ream of paper getting pushed for patient records, but free valet parking at the East entrance and fairly congenial employees made my visit as easy-​peasy as it could be…
With a torn ligament in my wrist.
The primary bummer: no access to my report, or a DVD/​flash drive of my images. Did it even happen? Dunno. It was all so fast.

There’s no one here at all been here for well over 4 hrs now and haven’t even been seen…

I would encourage Unilocalers to scroll down to the bottom and view the «not recommended reviews» to get a more fair and clear picture this facility. Although I’ve never been to the ER, I’ve spent 4 days in the inpatient unit, which in my opinion could have been significantly better. The doctors give you about 3 minutes of their attention, without answering your questions, and then you’re just left waiting to find out what the status is. When I requested a insurance case manager no one ever came, then I got slammed with an outrageous medical bill because they just prescribe the most expensive drugs for no valid reason. And it’s a good thing I looked at my bills because they charged me for something I never received… oops?
Like other reviewers have said, the billing department is horrendous. I got transferred about 15 times over the course of the week, and, I hate to be harsh, but I felt like I was talking to one incompetent person after the next. Lastly they do not offer any payment plan options as other hospitals Ive been to have.

This ER is a JOKE! So I’m writing this review at 12:15am after spending four hours in the ER for my wife’s severe headaches and stomach pains and never being seen. They took her blood work at 8pm and that was the last of it. After asking when she’d be seen at least 6 times they said they were waiting for something to open up. Keep in mind other people had come and gone while we were there. We asked if they could call with the results of the blood work or if we can come back in the morning and they said no, we would need to wait for however long it took. And don’t think for a second that what the nurse sees is confidential! The gossip between the front desk girls and the nurses was insane. I can’t say enough bad things about our experience. Wish I took my chances at MGH Chelsea, might have gotten shot but at least we would have been seen.

I have been here for various things and they have always been competent. I often do question the wait times, I’ve had to wait for hours for minor things, and once I was there and there was a little girl who seemed to be suffering and they took me with a finger cut first (for a change), but I can’t second-​guess these decisions when I’m not a medical professional.
What I do question is why everyone’s in the emergency room at all. Winchester Hospital has an annex in Wilmington which is more of a clinic (the Family Medical Center). You can walk in for urgent non-​emergencies like stitch removal, earaches, etc.
When I have been to the Winchester Hospital ER with kids (infections, accidents, allergic reactions) they were fantastic, they had a «children’s advocate» who was a real sweetheart, walking around and making sure kids were comfortable and not afraid, and bringing coloring books and so forth.
They also did a good job when a family member was admitted, providing an advisor to come in and educate the child about accidents – he did it in a very kind, not judgmental way.

My feeling is that those who are slamming this place have never worked in an ER (or hospital), and doesn’t really know how either of the two has to work.
You come to the ER, someone trained to look for emergencies will take a preliminary look at you. NO THEY DO NOT HAVE TO BE AN MD NO MATTER HOW MICH YOUR EGO SAYS YOUR KID OR HUSBAND OR WHATEVER DESERVES ONLY THE BEST. Fact is, a great number of people who visit the ER aren’t in an emergency. A great number of those are overprotective parents bringing their kid in for an ear infection. Not downplaying the needs of those patients, but a compound fracture, as an example, gets pushed higher than you. Of five people happen to come in AFTER you with GREATER issues, they are seen first. This isn’t your «by appointment» doctor’s office. This is the ER. It would be good of you to learn this.
On a more positive note, we just had our baby here on an emergency C Section. Unfortunately I didn’t get to go in because my wife was bleeding severely, but this was all explained to me afterwards. They rushed her out, the anesthesiologist said I’d be in the way, and left the room. Was I worried? Absolutely. Did I realize that they were doing their job and not wasting time worrying about my feelings? Of course! I’d much rather worry for an hour rather than be told they screwed around too long telling me stories and now there is permanent damage to one of my family members.
As I write this I am in the mother baby ward, with mom and baby both doing very well. Nurses are awesomely helpful and caring. We will be here another three days, and I will update here if any issues arose (though I doubt I’ll have to).

I had both my kids at Winchester and both were extremely positive experience. The staff was knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, the rooms very comfortable and even the food was good. The labor and delivery staff were incredibly wonderful and the recovery team helped make our transition to parenthood very easy. Plenty of free parking, they even valet!

When you are told after 2 hrs without an MD interaction: «Sorry for the wait, and very sick child came in that we needed to treat» you want to say back: «I wouldn’t be in the emergency room if I didn’t think my child wasn’t also very sick»…
…add to that the 3 minutes you actually spend with my kid makes me think: really… did you spend every one of the last 120 minutes treating that kid? Couldn’t spare 3 minutes while waiting for the labs??? SMH

I’ve been to the emergency room here a couple times, and it’s always been a good experience (well, as far as ER visits go, anyway). It’s cleaner than other emergency rooms and just so much more pleasant looking in its overall appearance (compared to say, Baystate ER out in Springfield).
Most recently, I went because I had an infected finger. Yup, gross. It was turning green. You’re welcome for that lovely image. The ER was practically empty, so the wait time was practically nonexistent. I’m sure that is not the norm, but hey, it was nice for me! The staff were extremely kind, extremely friendly, and extremely sensitive to my overly sensitive intolerance of pain.
It probably would’ve been a perfect ER trip all around (again, as «perfect» as an ER trip could possibly be), if it weren’t for the fact that they handed me another patient’s prescription before they discharged me. That could have been a wee bit problematic if I hadn’t caught the mistake.