The McGill Student Wellness/Medical Hub is simply the worst medical experience I have ever had. Firstly, appointments are same-day, meaning you have to call them at exactly 8:30am when they open or you have a zero chance of getting an appointment that day, terrible system. If it's 8:31am and you haven't called, better luck next day. Secondly, the reception staff were nice but not competent at all. Make sure you let them know you are there or you will sit in the waiting area for hours without any notice, even though they give you a ticket when you go inside. Thirdly, this may not be the case for every doctor that works there, but the doctor that attended me, Dr. Hashana Perera, was extremely condescending and simply did not seem like she knew what she was doing. She was not helpful at all, especially since I am a foreigner and don't understand the Quebec health system very well, I was surprised to see that she did not understand many medical terms used by other healthcare professionals which made me question the overall quality of the staff at the Wellness Hub, likely bottom of the barrel talent unfortunately. Please Please Please stay away from this place, you are better off going to a private clinic. It will be expensive but it's better than wasting your time at the McGill Student Wellness Hub. I would give this place zero stars if I could. Hope this review was helpful.

I called to make an appointment and was told after being put on hold for half an hour that they only do same day appointments. I have to work at 1pm everyday and was told to call back when my schedule is more available. I don't understand how this can be considered "accessible" care. The whole process seems designed to make me feel like the fact that I work made it my fault I couldn't get an appointment.

Canada’s most respected University completely fails to provide basic support for its students. Worse, they do not seem to care. The lack of health and mental health services adequate to the needs of a multinational student community is shameful, especially during the Pandemic- the most challenging time for everyone, but especially students away from home/country. Any effort to communicate with anyone with authority is impossible.

Not helpful at all! Tried to get help through phone because of mental issue, they basically just said I need to keep an eye on the website and check every day if there would be an available appointment spot. They didn’t even ask if my situation was urgent or not and they didn’t offer any alternative solution…Thanks for not CARE about students’ life…… It also contributed to my deduction that I will not continue my master at McGill. McGill is famous for its medical school but I feel like the school clinic do not even deserve one star.

don't seek their service if you want real counselling or want to address deep seated issues. I had a few sessions with the LWA and as much as I appreciate their attempt to empathize with my issues, it was clear they didn't care about me or my life, the only thing they care about is telling you your problems are normal and empathize with you until you'll go back to school and do ur work. that's what this place is for. whenever i brought up a topic that wasn't 'productive' or too much for them to deal with, they would steer the direction of the conversation so it would focus on the "present" and things that are manageable. it was invalidating to tell someone about my life story and problems only for them to give gestural nods and tell me basically just to change my mindset. after our sessions i only felt good temporarily and my symptoms resurfaced again, because some things go deeper than reframing ur mindset or being mindful. they didn't seem to understand this though, and i heard statements that seemed to imply this "stay in the present and be happy" type of counselling was superior over others, and some problems don't require further assistance. they also seem to worship other services offered by the hub and kept redirecting me to the events that were irrelevant to my issues. this place is good if ur feeling stressed, but if ur depressed, suicidal, or have any deeper issues that stem before ur current situation, do urself a favor and seek help outside, this place will only see you and your problems as one of the many among a huge population of stressed students at mcgill and basically tell you that everyone else shares your problems. i know they're trying their best but it makes my heart sink every time i think about how invalidating my experience was. it made me question whether my past wounds weren't valid enough to explore, or at least affecting me in some way. i'm still glad i seeked the help and i would recommend trying it out and see how it goes for yourself, they're clearly trying their best given the situation. just don't expect too much and know the purpose of the hub as an organization inside mcgill.

The absolute worst! They tell you to call at 8:30 am for an appointment. Then you call at 8:30 am the next day and they say the are experiencing high volume of calls at 8:30 am and disconnect your call!!! If this is not pure wickedness, I don't know what is!

Literally the worst clinic I have ever been to. Firstly, it is next to impossible to get an appointment closer than a month away and to do so you must sit on the phone for Atleast 15 min before someone speaks to you. Secondly, the reception is incredibly rude. I had an appointment and they gave me grief for “not completing forms” though I told them I had, to which they told me I didn’t, proceeded to sass me about it for five minutes until the receptionist realized she had been the one to lose the forms. Another time, I was scheduled two months in advance to have an operation. Getting to the clinic on the date of my operation, I was Told I couldn’t do it because a nurse had forgotten to book me in for a consultation and lab work before hand. Once again they were rude TO ME about this mistake with no apologies for the trouble. I ended up getting the operation done somewhere else because their Wait times were so long and I had to be rescheduled (after waiting for two months for this appointment). I have found the doctors to be quite helpful and really nice. Reception is awful. Organization and booking is awful. I have friends who have seen psychiatrists there that have been down right unprofessional, and dangerous prescribing medication after 15 minutes of meeting a patient. If your insurance covers it PLEASE GO ELSEWHERE

Personally I've only had good experiences with staff, although I know others have some horror stories, especially about councillors. The issue is with the organization. The system they have going doesn't work for anyone because McGill refuses to hire more than a couple doctors to serve tens of thousands of students. Also, the single phone line to access services is a terrible idea. Most days, it's impossible to speak with anyone at all. After making you wait on hold they eventually just hang up because they're over capacity. Today there's no holiday, no notice on their website, and it's regular operating hours, but the phone lines all say that they're closed. The upper management is incredibly unprofessional and has no regard for students' safety. A lot of staff do their best, but it's just not going to work until health of students is made a priority

A medication prescribed to me by a Wellness Hub doctor caused pseudotumor cerebri which is characterised by extreme pressure in the cranium that causes dizziness, migraines, tinnitus, nausea and permanent vision loss. Saw Dr H. Mitchell Shulman for mild skin issues and he prescribed me with minocycline. I had heard of doxycycline before and not minocycline, so I asked why he was prescribing me with the latter. He said it was because it caused less sun sensitivity. The only side effects he advised me of were yeast infections and indigestion if I were to take the pills without sufficient water and not upright. Two months later I went to emergency in BC and was diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri caused by minocycline. They advised me to put in a formal complaint to the doctor I saw at McGill as minocycline has a host of serious side effects in comparison to doxycycline, a safer alternative. The emergency doctor told me he would never prescribe minocycline due to its severe side effects of which I was not made aware. I am seeing neurologists and ophthalmologists now to determine treatment. This has been the worst healthcare experience of my life. This is not to mention the pathologist who, while collecting blood on another occasion, could not find my vein, spiked my nerve, and caused a muscle spasm.

this is the worst health clinic in all of montreal. If you have any medical concerns you're better off going to the ER. People on the phone lines are disrespectful, doctors are dismissive, it's impossible to get an appointment. I was told that the earliest appointment I could get to see a doctor was December! This is literally a joke of a clinic and reflects a great failure of the university to provide health services.

Honestly, I don't know whether they provide service or not. Every time when I make a call, what they tell me is there are no appointments available. am curious when they will have slots available. Health is a critical and vital thing, don't mess up the things by saying simply call tomorrow. otherwise, everyone's gonna end up in the emergency room.

Unfortunately, all advisors are always fully booked. I have been checking availabilities daily for the past three weeks and have never seen an open slot. What is the point of this service if it is unavailable to the vast majority of the student population?

absolutely horrible. to try and get an appointment, they are booked weeks if not months out, no exception. To do a walk-in, you have to wake up incredibly early and line up for hours before they open for any chance of getting one. The whole system is horribly organized and does not cater to students. When I was able to get a therapy appointment, they let me know that they recommend I continue going to weekly sessions, but they had no availability to provide that for me, and I had to go somewhere else.

Every time I’ve had a non-emergency health problem the clinic has been able to give me a same day appointment so long as I called at around 8:30 (open). Once there I was treated with amazing care and sweet staff.

If it was possible to give negative stars they would be a 5/5. No appointment times and they don’t take appointments more than one day in advance, a useless service. Called at 830 on the dot and was kicked out of the phone line due to too many callers. Then called back five minutes later to be told to call back tmrw. Glad McGill cares about the health and well-being of their students.

I've had two appointments at the clinic to meet with a doctor and was luckily able to get both appointments the day of. I experienced great care on both occasions. However, my first appointment I was in the waiting room for over 30 minutes and the doctor I saw felt kind of rushed and dismissive. Aside from that, I ended leaving that appointment with all the needed information and advice. My most recent appointment, I had an amazing doctor (Victoria Ralph) she is very knowledgeable, patient, kind and made me feel very comfortable. The clinic is very lucky to have her!

My experience at the wellness hub has only been good, yes it can be challenging to get an appointment but once you’re in, it’s smooth sailing. My doctor was very nice and did a really amazing job. My doctor kept me up-to-date and was really helpful when listening and provided helpful explanations.

No appointments or help with finding another doctor. Cannot get in with a local mental health wellness advisor for months. These services need to be accessible for students that need them and pay a lot of money for them. It’s disappointing not being able to get help from your university.

I had a consultation with 2 nurses today! They were excellent! They patiently explaining the procedure, collected the medical history, ensured that I am confortable and smoothly performed the procedure! Thanks for the enjoyable experience, ladies!

Called thé center to book an appointment 2 hours in advanced with already being on hold and never got an answer or signal that the center had closed and left me on hold knowing they had closed. Very unprofessional and not satisfied of the service

My experience with the McGill Student Wellness Hub has been terrible. Until recently, they did not accept students with respiratory symptoms due to the risk of having COVID-19. I understand the concern, but they refuse you even if you show proof of a negative COVID PCR-test. Also, all other clinics in Montreal do accept patients with respiratory symptoms, so this just feels like an excuse. What are you supposed to do if you end up contracting a respiratory disease such as bronchitis or pneumonia? This situation was unacceptable especially for international students, who are limited with their options of health care providers and often end up paying a lot of money when going to clinics. This has changed and the Wellness Hub now allows students who have a cough, sore throat etc. to see a doctor. However, they recommend to consult Maple/Telehealth before making an appointment. This does not make sense at all; if somebody makes the effort to call the Wellness Hub for an appointment, it is likely because their health concern can only be solved in-person with a doctor. When I called the Wellness Hub to get medication for my strong cough, they told me to first consult Maple to see if I really need an in-person appointment. I went on Maple and, surprise, given my symptoms, the doctor there said that I should get an in-person appoinment. I then called the Wellness Hub again (the same person picked up), and when I told them that Maple recommended me to see a doctor in person, they said that there were no appointments available the same day and that I should try calling again the next day in the morning since they only do same-day appointments. This is unbelievable to me. I would like to add though that whenever I did receive a treatment in the past, the doctors were very professional and friendly. The issue does not lie with the doctors, there is simply something terribly wrong with the management of the Wellness Hub.

It's the middle of a pandemic and same-day care isn't an option. You can only get it if you get lucky and there's a cancelation, otherwise be prepared to wait a month. If you can get an appointment, you're pretty well good to go, but getting one in the first place takes 3-5 weeks and apparently the calendar doesn't always let front desk workers see that far... There's 35,000 students but not nearly enough doctors.

McGill has to urgently create a senior-level task-force to address the problem of its medical services hub. It’s mindblowing how could someone mismanage this hub this bad.

Impossible to get an appointment. Please hire more doctors or organizational staff. I know it’s hard to find health care workers in the pandemic but things have been like this since before COVID. This is one of the worst aspects of McGill university and almost universally reviled by students. If McGill management cares at all about students (or would like to seem like they do!). It should not be so hard to make improvements. Staff are trying their best. The university needs to fix this.

I've been trying to book an appointment with a counselor, but nothing available. Is there really a thing named "Counselling service" at McGill? What are students who need counselling service supposed to do?

genuinely horrible! healthcare in this country is a joke and coming here seems like a prime example of that. Booked an appointment online, only to be told that I booked the wrong appointment b/c they need a doctor to make a requisition for lab testing. THE ENTIRE REASON I MADE THE APPOINTMENT WAS TO SEE THE DOCTOR TO GET LAB TESTING! WHY WOULD ANYONE BE COMING HERE IF THEY WEREN’T TRYING TO SEE A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL. Staff is rarely kind and look at you like you’re stupid because you don’t know to work this stupid system.

Booking an appointment was quick and simple. The staff are very nice and helpful. Dr. Victoria Ralph is a great doctor who seems to genuinely care about her patients.

You will wait a long time on the phone and they will tell you that it is impossible to get an appointment and to call the next week, but what is the point when they will tell you the same thing the next time. It is appalling the amount of students that need medical attention that do not get it.

It's not that the staff aren't trying their best, but the sheer volume of people they have to see necessitates that you wait a month to get 2-3 sessions before they have to refer you off campus. Most often this means you do all the intake work before you're turfed to another service that.... immediately makes you restart all the intake work. I am not exaggerating when I say the only difference between the Wellness Hub and googling "montreal + mental health" is that you wait 6 weeks.

pleasant and timely experience the last two times i have gone there to see the doctor! the lab techs are always super nice too.

no available appointments, broken. system needs to. be. fixed. straight up. ngl. no joke. this needs some work

Staffs are really incompetent and not knowledgable. One time a receptionist said I need to be referred from this clinic only but I have a referral from CLSC which is a community clinic of Quebec!!!! Extremely hard to see a doctor and their waitlists are always long.

Overall, I am being thoroughly supported and am having a positive experience. There have been hiccups, but I believe the staff at the Wellness Hub are doing the best they can, considering the lack of resources and the number of students they serve.

Clinic has great service. The problem is availability: there is always almost none. Staff is very friendly and helpful, doctors are mostly thoughtful and caring, though they can be hasty at times, as is the case with all clinics in my experience, and the administrative staff are reliable and flexible - I showed up for a blood test on the wrong day because I had misread my schedule and yet they still offered me a spot for a blood test! The place is very clean and sanitary too.

Their staff is always friendly and welcoming, and they take a comprehensive approach to addressing a wide range of health and wellness needs.