University of Toronto Health Service

Well, I waited for over 1.5 hours for my appointment and when I asked what was happening they said that the doctor I had an appointment with was being late, her name is Dr. Ann Stewart. I needed to know the result of my lab work as my fever got worse and I was feeling so much worse. I couldn’t wait any longer, I had a meeting scheduled right after what was supposed to be my appointment. I kindly asked the receptionist if the doctor could post my results for me to review and she said YES! few hours after my meeting I called back in as there were no results posted on my account and another receptionist told me that they could’t do it since the lab work was ordered by another doctor I saw before and she was away. So pretty much I do not know what my lab results are and have no way of finding out until the doctor that is away finally gets back. what a horrible experience!!! Stay Away! In am meanwhile I am feeling terrible and have to go to the hospital to do all the tests again to find out what is wrong with me. Once again, STAY AWAY!

I’m surprised there are so many complaints because I actually love U of t health services. Dr. Lowe is one of the best doctors I have ever seen and I have never had a bad experience with any one of the other doctors here. True the admin staff and general system could be better but in general the quality of health care here is great.
Appointments are pretty hard to book which is why I always just go to drop in hours. If you go anytime between 9am-​1pm latest you should be able to see a doctor within 15mins! I have always turned to the U of T health services whenever I have any medical concerns and they have never let me down.
The Doctors are very efficient and even if they need to refer you to a specialist, they fax it out immediately and always make sure to get something very close to your residence.
I was referred to a dermatologist and got an appointment with a specialist a couple of days after I visited health services.

U of T Health Service is great… IF you know how to work the system. Hopefully I can provide some insight on how to navigate the health service with minimal pain.
FIRST appointment: is extremely difficult to make. Your best bet is to make one in person. Line up in the never-​moving queue and register your student ID with Health Service. Ask for online registration, so that you never have to deal with them in person again.
If you call them, you will be put on hold for 10 minutes, and then the line will hang up on you. You will call them again, you will be put on hold for 10 minutes, and then the line will hang up on you. Lather, rinse, repeat, until a receptionist deigns your call worthy to answer.
SUBSEQUENT appointments: 15 minute (most) appts can be made online. Pick your doctor, pick your availability. If you need a longer appointment (first time birth control, STI tests, annual checkups), see «first appointment».
WHEN YOU ARRIVE at your appointment: Don’t bother lining up in the never-​moving queue. Just swipe your card at the self-​check in and wait for the nurse to call.
DROP INs: Don’t really exist. They’re more like same-​day appts. Visit the clinic as early in the day as possible. If you’re lucky, they will give you a same-​day appointment.
FLU SHOTS: Are super fast here and given by the nurses during designated flu shot clinic hours. However, make sure you ask for a fresh bandaid, because they peel the bandaids and stick them to the edge of various dirty tabletops to keep the super fast pace. Ew.
See? That was (reasonably) easy.

The Health Services at UofT do try their best to cater to the students, but with such a large population it always feels a little too small for what it should be. My own experiences have been using it only as a walk in clinic but I know that you can make appointments which would be the route to go over walking in.
Having to use the walk in clinic meant you had to wake up really early to ensure that you will get a spot and that you won’t have to wait hours on end to get to see a Dr. That was the biggest problem for me, but once you’re in everyone’s friendly and understanding (which is not always the case when dealing with the staff at the front of the whole experience).
It’s at a good location if you’re not in SMC or Vic because that is quite a trek if you really are sick. For a university like this, it is great that they offer this service to students but it really should be better.

I have experienced Health Services at 2 boarding schools and 4 universities, and this just ain’t cutting it. Maybe it’s because all of U of T’s Student Services suck a**, and Health Services is required to follow the trend.
I needed to make an appointment via phone (because I wasn’t signed up for online Health Services yet), so I called the clinic within normal business hours. I called 10 times in 4 days. Each time, the phone rang for 3 – 7 minutes, and then would hang up automatically. No answering service. No advice on what to do if you don’t have an online account. Not even a «sorry, we are required to be rude and unhelpful, please continue calling and eventually, when the mood strikes, we may or may not decide to answer». On the 11^th call, an aggressive and insensitive secretary answered. I explained the issue to her. She booked me in for an appointment 5 days later. Upon arriving, I was rushed by the receptionist and told that my significant other was not allowed to come in with me. A nurse and then a doctor, took my entire history, made me feel pretty awful in general and in particular, about my health. And then informed me that they couldn’t help because I would have to go to a different clinic anyways.
JUST WONDERING, the secretary on the phone also had this information, so why didn’t she just provide me with the phone number of the free standing clinic? Did I have to be harassed by four different people and then finally provided the information by the doctor?
Another thing that is definitively not cool is that Health Services is all on the web — appointments, correspondences, results, everything. They make you sign a waiver when you sign up detailing how insecure the system is and that they are not responsible if your information is compromised. I assumed that there would be an alternative to the electronic option. There isn’t. So they require that all your personal medical history be compromised via the web. Awesome.

If you’re a U of T student at the St. George campus, are covered under UHIP, and you need a doctor, chances are you’ll find yourself here at some point. I’m new to Canada and this is my first experience with the Canadian health care system (if this counts as such), and I have to say that it’s basically what I expected. I needed some prescriptions refilled and was given a 15 minute appointment with Dr. Lengkov. Though the experience was fairly rushed, she was very knowledgeable and thorough. Plus, I didn’t have to wait too long at 1pm on a Friday, which was nice (I expected to be there for hours).
Definitely make an appointment, though — it seems Walk-​in availabilities are very scarce.