Reviews of Eye Care Centre at VGH (Ophthalmologist)

Tracy Metzger

Eye Specialist is a great to serve me fast time and only 5 minutes waiting for my turn.. Always perfect! Its from station A. I have been there for many years. Later last month or this week. I have tried to call them but still not in office for long time.. I mean station A??? Wonder where is secretary?? I need to reschedule an appointment... Hmm.. I left message on their voicemail. No luck...

Keith Rispin

This is the place to be if you need work on your eyes. Thanks to the Dr.'s in this magnificent place.

Keith Rispin

This is the place to be if you need work on your eyes. Thanks to the Dr.'s in this magnificent place.

Vinci Wong

Receptionist, Nancy, is straight up rude, blunt and cold. Patients have no idea what’s going on or what to do next. Her horrible attitude is the least you would expect from a medical centre. If she is also a nurse, I would be extremely terrified to have her assisting any patients. First Google review I’ve ever written and I must warn other people who are bringing their family members here.

Alkarim Amarsi

All services under one roof (X Rays, specialists, etc.). Ask what you need to do before the appointment as some tests require no caffeinated drinks and to drink plenty of water. Parking is 2.50 per half an hour and 16.00 per "All Day" . My suggestion is to pay for all day as you cannot get out in the middle of the tests to add parking. If you will need more than two hours pay for all day. There is also public transportation of course which is cheaper. Great resource and one of a kind. Dr Patton and Dr Mah were great!

Amir Sahebgharan

Waited for more than an hour for my appointment. Some staff specially in clerks are rude and unpolitely asks you to do what they want like sit there stand there, like an army(lady in Section F and Tall bold guy in entrance). I think they should hire people who can handle old and seniors in a polite manner and with patiency.

Marion Anderson

Good plan to park underground at Safeway. Turn off Cambie onto 12th then turn first right on to Ash.

CKC Z06

Free mask Woohoo... ????

T. K.

Had my ptosis eyelid correction surgery here. All the staff working in the basement surgical daycare were very professional. Dr Rossman and a resident doctor performed the surgery and everything went well and I was very pleased. I got this appointment fairly quickly as well.

ISRAEL

Staff are very good. But seriously, they can put more chairs out for patients.

Justin JP “Deafjustin” Van Cleef Walker

Great doctor to me

Rebecca Alexander

I just called to ask about details for my upcoming procedure and the staff answering the phone was SO RUDE. Unbelievable, don't answer the phone if you can't even simply be cordial.

Cache

Dr. David Rollins is rude, unprofessional, dismissive, grumpy, arrogant, and abusive. I have fiberglass debris in both eyeballs going on a year and a half. He didn't listen to a word I said and when he hunched me down in the observation chair, without warning yanked my grip off where I was holding and forced them elsewhere. Only reason for two stars is, he was the only specialist out of four to get a piece out and he had a great young practicing doc from UBC assisting. I'm tempted to report him to the college

Dr. Pam Lincez

I was taken care of quickly though the bedside manner of the doctor was terrible. He was hard and uncompassionate, the procedure was not explained to me and I almost left without any follow up had I not asked. The admin staff were lovely however my experience with the specialist was very unpleasant.

Justin JP “Deafjustin” Van Cleef Walker

Great doctor to me

Douglas Ng

I literally spent a day recently at the eye care centre. I can totally identify with the people who complained about the long wait. I had an appointment with Dr. Navajas in section B at 10:20 am. I showed up at 10am to a room full of patients. An hour after my scheduled appt, I checked with the receptionist to see where I was in the lineup. 'Could be another 40 mins' I was told. He said it was because of 'unexpected emergencies'. An hour later, I checked again to make sure I hadn't been forgotten. 'Just a few ahead of you now' I was told. I finally got in at 12:45pm, about 2.5 hrs past my appointment time. The doctor was pleasant enough. He determined that I needed laser surgery on an old retinal tear. He said he would do it in the afternoon and asked me to make an appt. The receptionist gave me a time of 3:45pm. By now it was past 1pm so I went out into the neighbourhood and had a leisurely lunch and a walkabout in the shops. I returned at 3:30pm for my appt. After an hour of waiting I checked when it would be my turn. Now I was told that normally there were two doctors on duty, but today there was only one. So there was a backlog. At 5:30pm I checked again to see if I had been forgotten. I was watching people who came after me going in before me. The receptionist acted as if I was a nuisance, and he said he would check. He never did. At 6 pm he and the other staff left for the day. There was only me and a couple of patients left waiting. Finally, at close to 6:30pm I was brought in for my surgery... after more than another 2.5 hrs of waiting. I was out at around 7pm! As another reviewer said, 'never again'. I am grateful for getting the surgery done on the same day. But the long waits for both appointments totalling close to 6 hours is inexcusable and unnecessary. Why in heaven's name didn't the receptionist simply tell patients honestly that they are running behind? Why tell me to come back at 3:45pm when they knew they were hours behind? They could have said '5pm' due to the delay and I could've spent my time doing something else. In failing to do this, I think the office staff was inefficient, insensitive, and arrogant to think it's ok to routinely make people wait for such ridiculously long periods. No apology was ever made for the long wait in both instances. I would never recommend this particular section of the centre to anyone.

Luke Weng

Like most medical places I go to, this centre is extremely rude. The receptionists have no respect and say blunt and hurtful words. The road outside was closed the entire year and we had no way of entering. We were blamed. Not only that, but we've been waiting over an hour for our appointment. We've been told off for being late for their own construction and they're the ones late for our appointment. I smell hypocrisy here. We waited until all the other booths closed for lunch. We've been here since 9am. If it weren't for my medical condition, I would never come here again. Sadly I have to come here often, so woe is me. The only nice people worth mentioning here are Sue and Dr. Sheldon.

Don Adlam

The eye care centre is generally very well organized with big, spacious waiting areas, a little coffee shop and bathrooms on every floor. The highlight of the clinic is Dr. Katherine Paton. She is an excellent doctor. She takes the time to do her job to the highest standard, and really cares about her patients. You never feel like a number.

eman gill

I called several times, no one answered and when someone finally did she was incredibly rude, did not have any empathy or patience when answering simple questions. Would not recommend VGH. Administrative staff need a serious upgrade in interpersonal skills. Will be taking my loved ones to Fraser health where they respect their community members.

GTozzi604

Be prepared for a long wait! 2-3 hours long. I have brought my dad here 3-4 times and every time is the same. One time he had to go to a different section and we ended up spending the whole day there. Don't make any other plans the day of your appointment you will be stressed out looking at the clock! Or even better find an eye doctor somewhere else. I would give ZERO Stars if I could.

Jay Doubleya

The practice of booking too many patients has to stop. Waiting 2+hrs just to see the doctor is ridiculous. If appointments are running more than 30 min late they should advise the patients so they can adjust accordingly. Everyone in the waiting area is fuming but too polite to say anything

barbara yaffe

Patient care requires human contact. In the age of social media, it has become too difficult to directly contact the doctor and his office representatives. Recorded messages don't cut it. Office staff need to remember the human element. Dr. McCarthy's office is not processing widgets. This is especially important when the medical service being delivered is so fundamental, involving a person's vision.

fay cornish

This surgeon has no interest in what complications you have after he does your surgery. He refuses to follow up with you when you are in a lot of pain. I have been in pain for two weeks and he refuses to give me an appointment to see what the problem is. I feel that the lens has slipped down to the lower left of my eye. He told me to keep putting drops in my eyes which l have been doing for weeks now. And go see the optometrist. What kind of surgeon does this. Not only that but the surgeon who did the first eye was so gentle. He is so rough it was terrible. Good luck going to someone who doesn’t care about his patients.

Tina T

I came here after a 2nd referral for an eye condition and couldn't be happier with the care I was given during my visit to Dr. Anderson. I was seen by one of his students, who was very observant and respectful during the examination. Then Dr. Anderson came and confirmed his work while also examining my eye. He seemed like a great mentor to his student. They were both knowledgeable and friendly.

Mike Montagne

Vancouver Coastal Health-University of British Columbia Vancouver General Hospital's Eye Care Surgery Centre's Dr. Steven Schendel, MD, FRCSC (Ophthalmology) along with the exemplary team of professionals, gracious staffer "Jody". In these difficult time's of this ongoing COVID-19, gave us they're absolutely utmost of care, compassion, with respect! Dr. Schendel's care, professionalism, have been instrumental, moreover successful {Trabeculectomy} in correcting, plus of most importance! Halting my beloved wife Louise's rapidly deteriorating eyesight, Thank everyone involved, Very Very Much P.S. Whilst one is staying, overnight or as in our case, 7 nights, I highly recommend Thé Park Inn Radisson, on W Broadway, mention that your there for the Eye clinic or any VGH related medical

Dalia Yasin

Although the doctors at the Centre are incredibly kind and empathetic towards their patients, some of the administrative staff (especially in section F) are incredibly rude and are very difficult to communicate with. We called 4 times this week to confirm an appointment, and never received any call back. In addition, after driving 45 minutes for the appointment that was supposedly scheduled, yet not confirmed to us, the secretary in section F denied that there was any appointment whatsoever. When we pointed out that we had called to confirm numerous times this week, she denied having received any calls, and rudely asked why a young person would even have an appointment in the first place. We should not have to explain referrals from the Children's hospital to administrative staff to justify us being at the Centre. In addition, there was no attempt at accommodation on their end and frankly speaking, the experience from the patient's perspective was rather toxic and poor. We understand that admins are under high work pressure and the job is a challenging one at that. However, when patients come to the Eye Care Centre it is not out of sheer choice, but it is necessary to attend to a health condition; having to interact with staff that have no regard or sensitivity towards patients, makes the experience of tending to one's health a very difficult one. We hope that future interactions between patients and admins can improve in order to achieve a more positive experience for all parties involved.

SV Silhouette.

First- the downside. I can understand the negative reviews about the feel of this place, and the neighbouring clinic West Coast Retina associates, which seems to operate symbiotically. It has the feel of a chicken processing plant, as the product (us) is fed through the system in a conveyor belt style, to be poked and prodded by various specialists who each work on inspecting, dismembering, and repairing one separate part of the chicken. Nobody answers your questions because they don’t get to know the big picture, and, understandably, aren’t about to make guesses. They just pass you down the line. The doctors and surgeons were pretty much universally cold and robotic, with no discernible trace of kindness or compassion. In fact at first I found it very shocking. I tried hard to find some shred of humanity in the first few doctors I saw, but failed to detect one. That can be quite distressing, depending on your state of mind, though at this point I’m more used to it. I actually spent quite a bit of time googling about surgeons after this, and found out that it’s a bit of a known thing with this profession. The clinic had a bit of a ‘self-serve’ feel to it. For example my first daytime appointment sent me there without any info on which part of the building I was meant to be in. Seems minor, but it left me wandering blindly around a crowded building without a clue where to go. There doesn’t seem to be a receptionist working the front desk, and in multiple visits there I never saw a person at that desk. On a Saturday appointment I found the clinic mostly closed, front door locked, with no info given on how I was supposed to find my way in. Eventually, 45 minutes after my scheduled appointment time, some random building workers came along went in and I scurried in after them. The other patients who came along that day were also locked out and had to fend for themselves. Keep in mind that during all these visits I have been half blind, and am feeling my way around like a mole. Peering at notices and doors to try to find my way to where I’m supposed to be going. This a very vulnerable situation at the best of times and you’d think the operation would be better set up to accommodate patients. Self serve doesn’t work well when you can’t see. Also as mentioned elsewhere here- very little guidance and help in general re follow-ups, medications, etc. I’ve never left a doctors office before where they didn’t give some advice after. Ie- ‘do this, don’t do that, you’re going to be feeling agonizing pain when the freezing wears off in the morning, from all the needles we stuck in your eye, there’s a pharmacy down the street where you can pick up your prescriptions’, etc. etc. Instead I was just worked on and shown the door. I’m used to taking care of myself so I don’t feel like I’m worried or whining about this- but it was still surprising, and not a type of health care I’ve experienced before. Maybe times have changed. Now on the positive side. I didn’t find the wait times as bad as have been described. The office staff seemed friendly and efficient. In fact the whole operation appears pretty efficient. Re the coldness and lack of compassion in the medical staff, I’m not sure how else it could be under the circumstances. It’s a production line. These guys are moving so fast that there just isn’t time to regard patients as humans. How many people do you operate on per day before they just become some sort of ‘specimen’. In the end what we care about most is whether they do a good job on us, the specimens. Jury is still out in my case. The first operations failed and now I’m recovering from a more invasive one and still can’t see out of that eye, but I’m optimistic. I suppose it’s a little early to give four stars based on this, but my feeling is that they worked professionally. I feel like the expertise was there and the doctors I saw are good at their jobs, other than the job of being compassionate, which they may not have even been ‘trained for’ in the first place.

Byron Jam

Everytime I have visited it's always a good experience... Well informed staff.

Ata Khiaban

Great experience I had with this place. The visual field test was really excellent. Th technicians were so kind and helpful and engaging. they attended all my questions and needs. The resident doctor of doctor Anderson were super attending and help too. She was really paying attentions to my questions and deducting. Overall a sophisticated place.

Rongrong Zhang

I have no comment on my Doctor because I have been waiting for 1h for my appointment (and am still waiting). What’s the point for booking the appointment in this case???

Ed Tan

Outrageous wait, waited for 3 hours even with appointment and my child has fever very inconsiderate management, well we cant do anything its a public hospital, sad to say, the system work like a 3rd world country.

Greg Redding

Thank you so much Dr Stein for your professionalism and expertise. You saved my eye, I am forever in your debt.

Donna Chan

Over the weekend, I suffered a retinal tear. After seeing my excellent ophthalmologist, he quickly referred me to the VGH Eye Care Centre for immediate laser treatment the same day. The reception staff and attending doctor were very efficient and helpful. They promptly took care of my issue with all the Covid protocols in place. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the level of service for my retinal tear plus two previous visits for cataract surgery. We should be thankful & appreciative for all the free medical care provided by the caring healthcare professionals in Canada vs. kvetching away about all the minor issues. Imagine living in a country where you cannot afford any healthcare or the level of care is substandard or non-existent. It's completely understandable that rude or indifferent staff can leave a negative experience, however let's hope that we (medical staff & patients) never forget to be human, kind & compassionate towards each other especially when our healthcare system is faced with numerous challenges.

Angela Guerreiro

Dr Holland is amazing ! I got diagnosed with a eye condition , I been seeing him since 2014 . He has done 2 corneal transplant on my eyes ,one in 2015 and one in 2021. He was able to give the best gift to be able to "see again " . He always has fellowship there which is amazing seeing him teach ! I can not say anything better about him ! And all staff in the office is amazing , from the reception to the doctor's ! Thank you for giving me my vision back ❤️

Alex Bz

Never had such a terrible experience... 4 hour wait for an emergency procedure that took 10 minutes.. no after treatment care suggestions, no after care appointment. 3rd world type medical service... Had a similar medical experience in Mexico.. FIRST CLASS, FAST, FRIENDLY, EFFICIENT AND VEEERY CHEAP... CHEAPER THAN THE MONTHLY MSP PREMIUM! Something to consider for next time..At least I get a holiday too!

Val Chaschin

Conflicting feelings. The docs are great. They made me see again. But the way they run that clinic is a joke! If you have an appointment be prepared to NOT be seen for at least 3 to 4 hours.. My appointment was at 9:40 and I did not get seen at all. I got a parking ticket because they did not inform me I was going to be there all day so my 3 hour parking wasn't long enough. Then I got taken to the back in the room and they ignored me the entire time. What is the point of an appointment time if you're not going to value that? That was my time, I drove an hour just to get a follow up picture done And I was tossed aside like a piece of trash.

katie Hopkins

I came, understanding there was probably not much concern with my health. The previous doctor out in Chilliwack I had seen was cold towards me and unkind, leaving me feeling very embarrassed. So I was quite anxious about coming, fearing that I was just imagining the slight differences I was noticing, and was concerned of feeling really embarrassed. When the first dr (or dr assistant, not sure) came in, she was very thorough, spent a good amount of time assessing, and was very keen with her observations. I felt relieved. and she was very kind. Then Dr Anastasia came, and she was also very kind. I found her very sweet and caring, intelligent, and super keen to observe. she also explained things very well, and I felt the light, joy, and blessing with these ladies. I was very thankful, and quite relieved not to be embarrassed.

Paul Uppal

Good and knowledgable doctors.

Pat Roles

The centre is great except the washrooms on the main floor near the auditorium and entrance at willow and 10 are disgusting. This has been my experience every visit. I complained and the receptionists know and make regular complaints. Cleaning g is contracted out

John Robins

On the weekend I suffered a retinal detachment. The level of care was amazing. They restored my sight and resolved the issue all over the weekend. Cant say enough about their professionalism. Thx!!

dave mclennan

Saw Dr. Gregory Evans, misdiagnosed multiple times, fine line between guinea pigs and patients, would appear he has no patients.