Canada Diagnostic Centres

Today I had the worst experience for the whole six years of my life in Canada, at the Canada Diagnostic Centres Brentwood. I had an appointment for a pain management injection at 2:30pm and was told my 4 years old child is not allowed to accompany me. I asked my neighbour to watch my child for a half an hour as I was sure this is a quick procedure. I had an extremely rush morning and forgot to bring in my requisition form, but showed up at their office at 2:20pm - 10 minutes earlier. Right away I asked the front desk if it would be okay for me to quickly swing by my house, which is only a 2 minutes drive away from the centre, to get the papers. I was assured that I do not have to do it as they will contact my doctor's office to fax it to them and will be taken almost immediately. The front desk lady did not explain me that they cannot make the injection without the papers and did not follow up with me when the waiting period exceeded the norm! I was taken in right away and got changed into a gown. I was told by the nurse that I will have the injection done immediately. But instead I was waiting on the chair until I realized how embarrassed I am getting in front of my neighbour and had no idea of how long I have been waiting for. After 25 minutes of waiting I asked one of the nurses if they called my name yet. The place was not busy at all when I came in, but it was getting very busy and I was surprised why the new people get taken in right away and I am still waiting. The nurse got back to me and said that they are trying to contact my doctor to get a verbal referral as they still did not get the forms faxed. I got furious because I tried to make an appointment for my doctor this week and was told that she is not in until next week! Also, the Royal Oak Medical Clinic front desk people are extremely slow and do their job in a such a poor performance- no wonder I am not surprised they did not fax anything yet and probably have totally abandoned the request! So there I am telling off the front desk at the CDC that I could have gotten those papers from my house 25 times instead me waiting for so long in the waiting area! Then they finally started to follow up their request from the Royal Oak Clinic and by 3:15pm got them faxed to them. Meanwhile I was making a phone call to my neighbour, apologizing and explaining of the situation, as well as trying to get hold of my husband, because we share one car, I had to pick up my daughter and two more children from my day home from the school at 3:30pm and was not going to make it. I was taken into the room and one of the nurse man told me off in a rude manner for talking to other patients about their office and what had happened, he in a rudely manner pointed fingers on me saying that it was me who forgot the papers at home, me who did not bring them in, me whom I must blame for the waiting and all the wrongs, and they will write to my doctor that they cannot take me in without the forms. He did not hear me at all, but pushed my feelings so much, that I burst in tears and got so upset and hurt! While I am there on the table crying and the doctor is doing the injection on my shoulder, I hear the nurses laughing in the next room and looking at me through the glass window. At the same time I am making a phone call to my husband and asking him to walk all the way to school to bring the kids. I am glad it was not a harsh weather to walk to and from the school for elementary school students and my husband. The injection procedure took 5-6 minutes long!!! After I was done, the lady nurse who assisted the doctor did not have a compassion and understanding as well, but continued blaming me and telling me that in future I must be prepared to spend an hour or more for my appointment! I asked her to stop telling me things as this was making me more upset again. At the end she wanted me to listen to the important instructions after the injection, but I got so angry that I could not hear her and left the office deeply hurt. I could not drive, as I could have easily got into an accident, I was feeling angry and upset, it was dangerous for me to drive. But those people did not care and let me go as I am, many people in the centre (patients and staff) witnessed this horrible situation I got in. I am a calm person, but they made me look and act like I am a terrible person, who cannot control her emotions and anger. I had to get out from my car and go back to the CDC to talk to a manager. A pregnant lady, who does not have a private room, took me into the changing stole, whom I explained that this is not about me or my doctor. This is a COMMUNICATION issue and UNPROFESSIONAL staff! They must keep me informed about why it is taking so long when my appointment is 2:30pm and I came in 10 minutes early. They MUST follow up if they requested the forms to be faxed or why they cannot talk to the doctor on the phone. They MUST let the patient know and let her go home to grab it if it is taking so long. I left the office after 3:30pm, which means I was waiting for over an hour and it was a critical time, when I have to get my child from my neighbour and pick up other children from the school. At the time when I was making an appointment and when I was in the centre nobody ever mentioned that it will take over one hour to get a 5 minutes injection procedure done! I always ask and check how long does it take and I made an appointment a week before. I am grossly offended and hurt by the staff at the Canada Diagnostic Centre and will never chose to go to that office again not even once!

I'll never go to this CDC location in Marlborough ever again. I booked my appointment almost a month ago and was instructed to drink 2 litres of water in the morning before my appointment which was scheduled for 9:35. I was having a kidney and bladder ultrasound so I wasn't allowed to use the washroom before the exam and I had to finish drinking my water an hour before my appointment time. I have suffered from reoccurring bladder infections for a few years now, and this was the reason for the kidney ultrasound - to determine if the infection had spread. Having a current bladder infection, it is difficult already to wait to go to the bathroom even without 2 litres of water sitting in my lower abdomen. I was sitting in the waiting room for a total of 40 minutes (they didn't call me in until 9:58 and I was a bit early) and by this point I was almost shaking from having to *** so bad. The assistant sent me into a change room and told me to put on the gown and take my shirt off, then left. Didn't give me any instructions of what to do after that. I stood there in the gown for about 12 minutes until another nurse walked by and I anxiously stopped her and asked how much longer I would have to wait, because I really had to *** She went to ask the ultrasound technician and came back and told me another 15 minutes or so. I almost lost it, because that would mean I'd have to wait another 30 minutes at least before I could use the bathroom. I explained to her that I had 2 litres of water sitting in me, I have a bladder infection, and I can't hold it for another half hour because it's causing me significant pain. She smiled and went around the corner to talk to another nurse. Then she came back LAUGHING (seriously!) and said that if I wanted, I could go *** a little bit but to leave most of it in my bladder. She had a hard time even saying it with a straight face. I couldn't even believe the nerve of her - to treat a patient like that, who is obviously suffering... She then left, and about 5 minutes later I heard the ultrasound technician in the other room say goodbye to someone she was talking to on the phone and then she came to get me, which makes me believe that she was actually just chatting on the phone the entire time and that's why I was having to wait so long, because I never saw another patient come out of the ultrasound area at all the whole time I was there, and after she did my exam and I was finally leaving, I saw her sitting at a desk chatting on the phone again! I can't believe how rudely I was treated by the staff at this location, and how inconsiderate they are!! Of course, they don't know the personal details of why a patient is getting an exam done, but I'm sure that those who are having kidney exams and have been told to drink 2 litres of water (this is standard procedure!) are probably having some sort of problem with their urinary tract and should be treated in a timely manner so that they can use the bathroom as soon as possible!