How to Arrange Stretcher Transport Home from a Toronto Hospital
- Aurevia Patient Transfers
- Jun 1
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 19
Aurevia Patient Transfers | Toronto & GTA
Hospital discharge calls almost never come at a convenient moment. The news arrives fast — sometimes with 24 hours of notice, sometimes less — and suddenly you're trying to figure out logistics you've never had to deal with before, while everything else in your life is still happening.
If your loved one needs to travel lying down — after surgery, because of a mobility condition, or because sitting upright isn't safe right now — a standard car, taxi, or ride-share isn't going to work. You need stretcher transport. This article walks through what to expect from the discharge process, what to gather before you call a transport provider, and what actually happens on the day.
How hospital discharge actually works
Discharge planning in Toronto hospitals typically begins during the admission itself, but the actual discharge notice often arrives with less time than families expect. Most hospitals plan for morning departures — somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. — but this shifts depending on the floor, the day, and your loved one's situation.
Your main contact at the hospital is the discharge planner or social worker assigned to the floor. They're the person coordinating the logistics of when and how your loved one leaves. If you haven't spoken with them yet, ask the nursing staff to introduce you. It's worth making that connection a day or two before discharge — not the morning of.
What the discharge planner can help you with: the expected timing, any equipment or documentation that needs to travel with your loved one, and whether a referral to Ontario Health atHome (the province's post-hospital home care program) has been initiated. That referral matters because home care services can't start until the referral is in place.
Do you need stretcher transport specifically?
Not everyone being discharged requires a stretcher. Some patients can safely travel in a wheelchair-accessible van. Others can manage in a regular vehicle with assistance.
Stretcher transport is generally appropriate when your loved one:
Cannot sit upright due to a recent surgery (back, hip, abdomen, or major procedure)
Has been in an ICU or surgical recovery unit and hasn't been cleared to sit up
Has a medical condition that makes an upright position uncomfortable or unsafe for an extended period
Requires careful repositioning or close monitoring during transit
If you're not sure what level of transport is appropriate, ask the nursing team directly. They can tell you what's medically safe for the trip. That's their call, not ours — and any reputable stretcher transport company will want to know what the care team recommends before confirming a booking.
One thing worth clarifying, because it comes up often: stretcher transport is not an ambulance. An ambulance is for medical emergencies and is equipped for on-the-road treatment by paramedics. Stretcher transport is for patients who are medically stable but can't travel in a standard vehicle. The two serve different needs, and only one of them requires a medical emergency.
What to have ready before you call a transport provider
This is where a bit of preparation saves a lot of back-and-forth on a day when you have limited patience for it.
Pickup details: The full hospital address, plus the specific floor and unit. Hospitals are large buildings, and a crew arriving at the main entrance without a specific floor number will lose time getting to your loved one.
Drop-off details: The full destination address. If your loved one is going home, note anything relevant about the building — elevator access, how many stairs to the entrance, whether there's a key code or buzzer, whether there's interior stairs between the door and the bedroom. If they're going to another facility, the facility name and the unit or floor they're being admitted to.
Discharge timing: The hospital will give you a window, not an exact time. Share that window when you book.
Your loved one's needs: Their general size and whether there are any positioning requirements during transport. If bariatric support is needed, mention it when you call — this affects which vehicle and equipment is appropriate.
Whether a family member is travelling along: One family escort can travel with the patient. Let the provider know when booking so it's accounted for.
Questions worth asking the hospital before discharge day
These questions don't take long to ask, and they prevent the situations that create stress for everyone involved — a crew waiting at the nursing station because the patient isn't ready, or an arrival at a building with stairs nobody mentioned.
Will your loved one be ready at the agreed time? Nursing staff sometimes need advance notice to prepare a patient for transport — getting them positioned, detaching any temporary monitoring equipment, and completing paperwork. Ask if the crew should check in with a specific nurse or charge nurse when they arrive.
Is there anything specific about how they should be positioned during transport? Some patients have restrictions — they can only lie flat, or they need to be slightly elevated, or they're sensitive to movement on a particular side. The crew should know this in advance.
Will any equipment be travelling with them? Drainage bags, portable oxygen, or other medical supplies sometimes need to accompany a patient. The crew needs to know to account for this and handle it properly during the transfer.
What documentation will travel with them? If your loved one is being admitted to another facility, there's usually a package — discharge summary, medication list, lab results. Confirm this is ready and who will hand it to the crew.
What happens on the day
When the crew arrives, they'll check in at the nursing station on the appropriate floor. The nurses will confirm the patient is ready for transport and hand over any documentation or equipment that's travelling along.
The transfer from hospital bed to stretcher is where training matters. Moving a person safely from a lying position, through a hospital room, down hallways, into an elevator, and out to a vehicle requires technique — and two attendants. One isn't enough.
From there: your loved one is secured in the vehicle, you can travel alongside if you'd like, and the crew handles entry at the destination. If there are stairs at home, they handle those too. At Aurevia, stair access is included in the base price — it's not an add-on, because it comes up in the vast majority of residential drop-offs.
The crew checks in with any staff at the receiving facility or gets your loved one settled at home, confirms everything is in order, and wraps up. The goal is that you don't have to be the relay point between the hospital, the transport crew, and whoever's waiting at the other end. We coordinate directly with both sides.
How far in advance to book
The general recommendation is 24 to 48 hours before discharge. This gives a transport provider enough time to schedule appropriately and prepare the right vehicle and crew configuration for your loved one's needs.
If you're getting shorter notice — the hospital calls in the morning and discharge is that afternoon — call anyway. Same-day bookings may be possible depending on availability. Don't assume it's too late without checking.
One thing to keep in mind: the hospital gives you a window, not a guaranteed minute. When you book, share the window. Plan for some flexibility on both ends. Discharge processes run on hospital time, not a schedule you control.
Booking with Aurevia
When you call us, we'll ask a few straightforward questions: pickup and drop-off addresses and any access details, your loved one's mobility needs and positioning requirements, the expected discharge date and timing, and whether a family escort will be travelling along. From that, we build a complete quote. No charges are added at the door.
If you've received quotes from more than one provider and want to understand why they differ, we're happy to walk through that with you on the call.
Phone: 437-870-8090 | Monday to Sunday, 8am to 8pm
Aurevia Patient Transfers provides pre-scheduled, non-emergency stretcher transportation across Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area — hospital discharges, medical appointments, and facility-to-facility transfers.
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