Kerrisdale Station Medical Clinic

HORRIBLE experiences, almost consistently here. You will wait an hour despite having an appointment. If you are a walk in, DON’T EVEN BOTHER.
Doctors here are very impersonal, and rushed. Plan on waiting 1 – 1.5 hours, then they will rush you to spit out why you’re there and spend 3 minutes with you.
There is another clinic in Kerrisdale now called Matters of Health at Arbutus/​40^th. I will be going here, in future.

Word of caution: on Tuesdays the walk-​in doctor doesn’t come in until «around 8:45», but the clinic doesn’t feel the need to mention this anywhere online or on their labrynth of a voicemail system. They only tell patients in clinic, so once you’re there at 8:00am (as posted business hours), you have no choice but to wait 45 minutes.

Doctors are decent — probably been here on average once a year during the past decade — but wait times can be ridiculous. The last time I was there it would have been faster to WALK downtown and get into a clinic. Instead I waited in their lobby with 20+ other sick people for about 2 hours and probably picked up a cold!

If I could give negative zero stars I would, as this place is a scam and a JOKE! I feel sorry for the poor folks that work at the reception because their service caused me to insult the establishment verbally today, and not all of them deserve it, no matter how incompetent they are– they’re just following orders.
So, if you don’t have a care card you pay $ 100 just to see a doctor for 5 – 10 minutes. That’s does NOT include the fees you pay for tests at the lab next door. I’m from the U.S. and ultimately had to do this. They make it a point to spend as little time with you as possible so that they can see the horde of people waiting in the lobby.
This was my first time here so I was willing to wait.
The doctor I ended up seeing (Dr. Nassir Adhami) walks in and immediately brushed aside my symptoms and told me not to believe anything I read online about them. I replied and said «why did I pay $ 100 for you to tell me nothing? I’ve researched my symptoms and have all the same symptoms as —» He says «are you going to believe Google or are you going to believe a certified doctor?» And then «if you don’t agree with my diagnosis you can see another doctor after at no cost so you don’t feel like you’re wasting $» Fair enough. So I proceed to be «diagnosed» based on a quick examination and sent to the lab for tests that cost me an extra $ 76.
4 days later I walk in for my results and I’m told «you don’t need your results because nothing serious came back– so you can go pick up an OTC drug if necessary» I asked to speak to the doc about it and she says I can wait. 3 mins later she comes over and says the doc told her I can’t see him for results unless I pay another $ 100. What the fuck?! The doctors cannot explain or GIVE you the typed out documents of your results unless you pay again to see them. Scam! I told her I want to see a manager and said that’s the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. I paid for tests and deserve to see my full results without seeing a doctor. 5 mins later she returns with a typed explanation of results and says «Dr Adhami allowed you to go ahead and take your results but to see him for explanation it’s $ 100.» Oh, as if he’s doing ME a favor now? I snatch my results and leave. I’m so disappointed in this place!
Note, the doc had previously diagnosed me with a serious condition and it didn’t match up with the negative results I got so I wanted to know how he came to his diagnosis. since he boasted about being sure he was correct and my online research was wrong as a «certified doctor» I figured he could offer some insight to his conclusion. How much do you want to bet he fucking Googled it?!
People on here say some of the doctors there are good and some are bad. Well Dr. Adhami is indeed a complete waste of time and money! I’d rather go to the main hospital in my area directly and pay more to see proper doctors that can give a thorough examination and results and ones that actually CARE about the patients!

The doctors are very kind. It doesn’t feel like fast food service like other clinics. They take the time to question you and are very thorough. If you can get one as your family doctor you are very lucky!
As a walkin you just have to expect a line. It happens and in a city where it is so hard to find a family doctor. It is better when you go early, but unless you are first, you are still going to wait.
Unfortunately their phone system is a nightmare. It takes a while to bypass the switchboard and finally get to a receptionist and even then you could be on hold for a while. The receptionists can be nice but I have also heard them be very snarky. However, I am sure dealing with impatient sick people can be frustratig.

Walk in patience have priority over patience with appointments. Reception staff is completely rude. Dr’s are in such a rush to get you out and on to the next. I have been a patient here for a few years as Dr’s accepting new patience are hard to come by in this city. I feel l that this clinic is all about making money. You can not be both walk-​in and by appointment and expect to give QUALITY service. I walked out yesterday and will never be back.

I’ve been coming here for about a year, and I noticed that there are two kinds of doctors: the ones that seem to care, and the ones that don’t (I’ll get to this in a moment). Here’s what I think… there are some good doctors there. I know there are, I’ve met them. I just wish I kept their names so that I could request to see them instead of the crappy ones that seem to pop up here and there. If you live near Kerrisdale, and you don’t want to go anywhere else because they would be too far for you, make sure that when you meet a nice doctor at this clinic, remember the name and see them more regularly. Otherwise, your experience with this clinic will be soured by the terribly, unsympathetic doctors, who are basically forced to talk to you about ONE concern that you may have.
The receptionists, in my experience, aren’t too rude. They’re more straight to the point, and their estimate time of waiting is incredibly accurate. I can’t remember when the clinic isn’t so busy, but I’d say in the early afternoon. During that time, the doctors seem a bit more willing to discuss with you about your issue (s).
(STORY TIME. If you already got the point and don’t want to read the following below, I don’t mind. This is a BAD experience of mine that happened 30 minutes ago)
Speaking of which, when you walk into one of the individual rooms, there’s a notice that says, «If you have more than one concern, please let your doctor know so that we can go over the most important concern today.» I don’t go see a doctor very often because I don’t have time, and I happen to have more than just one issue on my mind. And today, their notice has been brought to my attention very rudely by Dr. Dlin, whom I find incredibly discourteous and unsympathetic. I mentioned that I have 3 different issues, and he said, «Okay, what’s the first one?» in a very business-​like tone.
I mention the first one. Interrupting after the first phrase, «My foot… it’s been – » he says, «Okay, next one?» I was speechless. My brain froze for like 3 seconds due to how rude he was. Quickly trying to recover, I mentioned my next one. Again, he interrupts me in the midst of my sentence, and says «next». I mention my third one. He interrupts me ONCE AGAIN, and points to the sign that says «the most important issue…» and says, «So what’s it going to be? Your foot? Your sleeping problem? Your pills?»
I was shocked… I’ve had bad experiences with doctors before, but this one just outdid every other bad doctors I’ve seen!
The positive thing was that he knew what he was talking about… or at least, I think he does. He mentioned a term to me, and he didn’t even bother explaining what it was. He just said, «Okay, we’ll get you treated for that, once we have the x-​ray,» and hands me his referral. He doesn’t even explain which ones I should be calling, or if I should even make an appointment at all. He didn’t even say «bye» or let me know that the session was over. He just left the room and closed the door. I was very confused, so I walked out 2 minutes later and asked the receptionist if I was supposed to get going. Apparently I was.

Rude receptionists who don’t care about patients’ concerns. Phoned up to make an appointment to get a prescription refilled because doctors here do not renew them without an appointment. Next available appointment is almost a week away and told the receptionist that there is a problem with not having the medication for that long. Her answer? You’d have to make an appointment to get your prescription refilled. She didn’t bother to offer any other alternatives. The attitude of the workers here is so focused on getting things done in the minimum amount of time that patient care is completely neglected. Not anything to do with the doctors who work here, but the staff who deals with the public STINKS. NOT RECOMMENDED!!!

All I have to say is stay as far away from this «medical clinic» as you possibly can. From doctors that want to set a land speed record in getting you out of the office as fast as possible, to lengthy waits to see a doctor, the overall experience is very poor. Don’t risk your health at this sad excuse of a medical clinic.

I will preface this review by saying there are some FANTASTIC doctors at this place (Dr. Elliott, Dr. Thrasher, and others), including my GP. Despite this, the service I’ve received at this clinic has been inexcusably terrible. Here are some examples:
1. A receptionist calls me to to tell me I need to come in to get some x-​ray results. Having recently seen the movie «50÷50», I jump to the conclusion that my back pain must be a life threatening tumour that’s eating away at my spine. I come in the following day only to find that THEY HAVE LOST MY ENTIRE CHART! How the F*** are you supposed to maintain patient confidentiality when you don’t know where you put your patient files? They say they will re-​order my x-​rays, but I’ll have to come back in a week and wait in line again with everyone else during walk in clinic hours. UNACCEPTABLE.
2. After dialling through their ridiculously complicated system to get the right extension I spent 25 minutes on hold waiting to book an appointment before I gave up. I understand you’re busy but really, 25 minutes on hold and I still couldn’t get through? Why not embrace the technology of the 21^st Century and implement an answering machine for receptionists to call you back or get an online booking system?
3. Like any walk in clinic, service can be hit or miss depending on which Dr. you get. Unfortunately I’ve had a few misses. There was the brand new doc that told me my strep throat looked like his medical textbook (gee, thanks that’s reassuring…). While I could excuse that one based on lack of experience, I had an experienced doc congratulate me on losing 6 pounds in 2 days (I was underweight at the time) and tell me I was fine, only to later have Vancouver Public Health call me and tell me I had Salmonella (which, since the doc wasn’t concerned went untreated for 10 days… NOT PRETTY — I dare you to google the symptoms while finishing your lunch).
If you’re not already a patient here (like me), do yourself a favour and find another clinic.

Five minutes is not an appropriate wait time to dial through searching for the right extension or person to speak to. No, I do not want botox, no this is not a medical emergency. All I really want to do is make an appointment.
When I was finally able to get through to a real live person, all was smooth sailing. My doctor is the very dear Dr. Elliot who I started seeing 5 years ago at Hycroft Medical Centre. Since those days, she’s really upped her «posh» office-​ness. She only works a few days a week (semi-​retired perhaps?) and from what I understand, is not taking new patients. But if you really want a grandma like figure as your GP, she’s solid! I don’t know what I’ll do when she retires.
Kerrisdale Station is a big, bright office with a large waiting room. There’s free parking below the London Drugs (enter thru the alley between 41^st and 42^nd, just east of East/​West Boulevard). Because it’s so big, and you must jump thru the numerous hoops of automated operators, I can only imagine there’s lots of staff here. Although on a Saturday afternoon, it doesn’t have the feeling of busy chaos. Just the quiet doctor’s office staples: child whimpers, baby cries, woman coughing, man sneezing. Thank goodness for soap and a strong immune system :)