McMaster Niagara Family Health Centre - St. Catharines, Ontario

James

If I could give this place zero stars I would. My family doctor quit family medicine to move into sports medicine so my records were sent to Dr. Ho’s office. The first time I called Dr. Ho’s office I was informed that Dr. Ho was away on holidays and she would be back in a week and the receptionist would have her call me when she was back in the office. I never received a call. The second time I called Dr. Ho’s office I was so rudely and ignorantly informed that Dr. Ho was on maternity leave and she is off for 7 months! Ok, who is taking care of your patients while you are gone? Receptionist just hung up the phone offering zero information as to what doctor I could see that may be caring for Dr. Ho’s patients while she was gone. Brutal! Unprofessional is an understatement! The only 2 times I have ever called the doctor! I haven’t called back since! My tax dollars hard at work ?

Quinton Mol

The care you get from nurses and doctors is what you would expect. BUT getting the care is an nearly impossible. They do not pick up their phones half the day. And call back requests take several days to return.
The worst part of it is the team says to use their Pomelo Health Myself portal - WHICH IS A PAID SERVICE! Niagara North Family Health Team operates on a multi-tiered, pay for access system.
I am all for a privatized system, because you would get better service than the government funded bare minimum requirements

Carrie Elefante

I have been a patient of Dr. Ho for several years. She is an amazing, down to earth Dr. who cares, wants to find the root to an issue. Has never made me feel like a little issue was wasting her time. She listens and is empathetic to anything I have had concerns with. I've needed at times a last minute appt. and if she makes time to see me as soon as possible even the same day or refers me to the urgent care clinic specifically for patients of our clinic. I've never had a long wait for an appt. The staff are running a great clinic and I'm thankful too that she is also my husband's and inlaw Dr. I wish she was available to take my mother as a patient but unfortunately wasn't at the time needed it. I also have liked the other Dr.s I've seen there too.

One thing, we don't like is the implementation of paying for the patient portal to make correspondence easier with the Dr. but we just refuse to pay for it as we simply dont have the extra funds for it, so we have reverted back to the call in for an appt.

Leanne Foisey

AWFUL service and experience!! I had an IUD consult with Dr.Chowe and no one would help me get an appointment I have to chase them constantly and no one gets back to me and then to last minute tell me she does not do IUDs anymore !!! Who does that to someone it shows no respect for women’s health to tell me this last minute when the last conversation I heard was she was trying to get me into an appointment… how that changes and now who knows how long I’m gonna wait for an IUD!! Horrible service. I’m actually glad now I have nothing to do with this clinic… waited 2 months to just be told she doesn’t do them anymore.

Brenda Clarkson

Dr Elliott is absolutely fabulous!! He is such a caring doctor..and guess what…..HE LISTENS!!!! So glad he is our doctor. Allison is great as well.

Melissa Clark

I have had nothing but great experiences at the clinic. Same day appointments if you call early enough, no long waits, thorough doctors who never make you feel rushed or disregarded. I was with Dr Lukings before he transitioned to mental health and he was a very compassionate, professional doctor. I now am with Dr Ho since he switched roles and she is lovely! She is so funny, intelligent and professional. She makes you feel very comfortable talking about any issues and is straight to the point. I feel so lucky everyday to know my family is in such good medical hands when an issue arises. I couldn’t ask for a better health team to be with.

Brenda

This clinic is simply fantastic. We were so lucky to get in here after our family physician retired. We have Dr. Ho and we just love her. Don't have to wait long for an appointment and when you get there you never wait more than a couple if minutes before you are taken in. Al. The staff are very courteous.

Hailey

What this office doesn’t understand about the no walk in clinic policy is that it doesn’t just stop me from going to a walk in clinic with an acute illness rather than seeing them, it prevents me from being able to see a doctor for anything. When my work hours are the exact same as the offices hours, I cannot schedule an appointment with my doctor. I can’t use their urgent care clinic when it’s a problem that has been ongoing for several months. Even when I have some vacation time and try to see the doctor, I end up being pawned off to a nurse practitioner or physicians assistant. Being pawned off on another staff member wouldn’t be a problem if they didn't brush off every problem I’ve ever brought to them. It's almost like I don't have access to a doctor at all sometimes and I end up suffering. It’s unfortunate that the office is so bad because the times I have seen an actual doctor, they are great. My family doctor is Dr. Yurkewich but I also saw Dr. Ovens while Dr. Yurkewich was away and I have seen Dr. Chow before. All of these doctors were excellent, I would follow Dr. Yurkewich if she left Niagara North. The reception staff is so hard to get ahold of and some of them are so rude. I talked to someone today and she was very friendly, it isn't all of them, but some of them are so snippy and rude for no reason. I used to just use the portal because getting ahold of the office by phone is next to impossible, but I will absolutely not be paying for that