---
title: "Microsoft email outage hits Toronto hospitals and City services, still ongoing"
description: "Unity Health Toronto declared a Code Grey on November 12 after losing reliable email access during a global Microsoft 365 outage. Patient care was not affected, but the disruption continued into November 13."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/toronto-2026/news/toronto-hospitals-microsoft-outage-november-2026"
last_updated: "2026-11-13T16:52:47.164Z"
---

A global Microsoft 365 outage on November 12 caused Unity Health Toronto to declare a Code Grey, the hospital network's protocol for a loss of infrastructure, as staff lost reliable access to email and other Microsoft communication tools. The disruption continued into November 13 with no confirmed end time.

## What happened

CP24 reported that Unity Health Toronto, which operates St. Michael's Hospital, activated Code Grey on November 12 after staff experienced difficulties sending and receiving email. University Health Network and Sunnybrook Hospital also reported that email was temporarily unavailable. At peak, nearly 150,000 Outlook error reports were filed globally at 1:30 pm Eastern.

The City of Toronto warned on November 12 that some City services may be temporarily unavailable or experience delays. The University of Toronto, Seneca Polytechnic and George Brown Polytechnic also reported disruptions. VIA Rail said passengers could not receive email updates about their trips.

## Patient care not affected

All three hospital networks stated clearly that patient and resident care was not affected. Unity Health Toronto said in a statement that "our hospitals remain safe and open to provide care." University Health Network and Sunnybrook gave the same assurance, CP24 reported.

## What residents can do

Residents with urgent questions about hospital appointments or procedures should call the hospital's main telephone line rather than send email while the disruption continues. Each hospital's direct phone numbers are on its own website.

## Status as of November 13

Microsoft said it had applied patches, restarted servers and rerouted traffic, and was seeing improvements in mailbox access. The company warned that some intermittent problems could continue and gave no confirmed end time. No statement from Unity Health confirming the Code Grey had been lifted was available as of the morning of November 13.

Toronto residents can check the websites of Unity Health Toronto, University Health Network and Sunnybrook for updates on service availability.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/on/toronto-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.