I went to my first private clinic today because the alternative of waiting in the public system was so long and inefficient, I would be dead before having an appointment. Seeing that I have no family doctor, the nurse who did the triage on the phone with me last night offered the options: a week-long wait for an appointment to see a doctor or an appointment the following day for the price of $200. I chose the private, and I am glad I did, as my problem required immediate assistance and a prescription. Many other people I know now do the same.
My appointment was at 2:40 pm and I arrived at 2 pm. When I arrived, to my dismay, they called me by my name the moment I came through the door and led me immediately to the doctor's office. I saw the doctor, and the services rendered were top-notch, including an ultrasound that I had 30 minutes after entering his office at a place directly across the hall from his office. I could not believe the service I received after having endured the problems of the public system for so long. My problem was immediately addressed and then some.
By the way, last year, when I had a similar problem, I went to the ER at the new Glen RVH. I was astonished to see countless homeless men sprawled out on the waiting seats in the waiting room, sleeping, and a few even smoking. The smell alone was horrendous. This, while security stood nearby, controlling fights among large immigrant families that were ongoing the whole time I was there, which was 18 hours, for a serious problem I had. I cursed Trudeau and the Liberals throughout my ordeal. The fucker needs to be in jail for destroying so many once-loved Canadian institutions, and it would appear now, Carney, as well.
Although i was under the impression this thread is about federal politics and the healthcare system is under provincial and it is weird that you don't know that. This has nothing to do with Carney, so you're cursing the totally wrong people, and this is also kind of a you problem.
I got two same day appointments in separate clinics one week apart last December and got an ultrasound and a ct scan within days of each appointment. I didn't have to pay for private or do any magic. I just figured out how to use the resources and tools at my disposal properly.
For your information, it's very easy to get a same day or next day appointment if you don't have a family doctor or your family doctor can't see you soon enough.
-You go on the rvsq website, enter your info and try to get an appointment with your doctor.
-When you get a response back that says none is available, it gives you the option to check a different doctor in the same clinic so you go ahead and request that.
-When that comes back saying none is available, then it offers to look for any doctor that is not in that clinic, so you request that next.
**Sometimes you may get an available appointment right away.
- if you do, don't think about it and click on it and book it right away. It will hold it for you for 2min while you finish the process but that takes no longer than 30sec. So if for whatever reason you're not happy with that option and want to try your luck, you simply release it and it will go back into the "pool" for someone else to grab it.
**More likely, you won't get any available appointments on your first search.
-That's ok, refresh and try again 30 seconds later. And then do it again until you see an appointment. Book it right away.
-This method has worked great for me on weekdays, in the morning around 9-10am. In about 10min I had an appointment for 2-3hrs later. I haven't tested other times in the day to see if they're better or worse but I know clinics update with availability constantly so the results are real time and get added throughout the day.
-Weekend is much more difficult when you're trying for the weekend on the weekend. But I've been able to book on a Thursday or Friday for a Saturday appointment. I've also had luck at night for the following day however I don't think there's any point doing the refresh method at 11pm as I doubt there are that many available appointments being added at that time.
-If you try around 8:00-8:30pm, that might work also because a lot of clinics open up spots for the next day at that time and i would assume that many add them on there as well.
Keep your money for when you need a specialist. This isn't where you need to spend on private. Being resourceful is still free and now you know how to get an appointment.
-Also, 811 can help you get an appointment or point you to a resource you might not know.
If you don't try, and just got straight to ER or private, then you won't ever get an appointment in a public clinic. That's not the system's fault. The big issue getting care in Quebec is when you need non life-threatening specialist care or surgery. There are huge issues with the healthcare system and the CAQ deserves so much blame for their part ruining a lot of shit in this province. But regular or urgent non life-threatening care is not a problem yet in/near Montreal if you use what's available.
It's always worked for me. I've used rvsq since 2019, I've booked probably close to 10 times. Only time i failed was on a Saturday night for Sunday, which is kind of predictable. I waited until Monday morning and had an appointment later that day. Good luck.
PS: Pollievre is not smart. I'm not a fan of Carney by any stretch of the imagination but my God PP would have been embarrassing.
People reposting his stupid "statistics": I've spent a few minutes in the past actually going on Stats Canada and looking at the fearmongering shit PP and his flunkies post. Most of the time, it's really stupid shit like taking a tiny part of statistics that make it look the way they want to look.
Meaning, if it's sunny all week but raining on the weekend before going back to sunshiny on Monday, the picture will look a lot different if you zoom in to show only sunny Friday and then rain Saturday and Sunday than it would look if you showed an 8 or 10 day period. Like, a child could be fooled but adults should be embarrassed.
The fact that someone who wants people to believe he's competent to be PM can post truly stupid stuff like that and that everyone runs with it with a such remarkable but unwarranted confidence is honestly sign that we're so cooked.
There's so much nonsense on this thread but that's the internet these days.
Valentina, it's kind of weird that your profile says you're half Italian. Do you tell the Italian side of your family your anti-immigrant opinions and what you think of them? But where does that leave you?
Is there a number of generations where someone gets to stop considering themselves immigrants and grants themselves the authority to complain about immigrants who haven't been here as many generations perhaps? How many generations is that?
Because that is some wild shit.
.. But this whole thread is bonkers so.. Smh.