The 'Columbia Medical Building' was the venue for a medical specialist appointment recently -- a…read morerather well-known venue from previous 'visits' over the years. Located within the Sapperton area of New Westminster, Columbia Medical is a 4-storey medical office building housing a variety of medical professional services. The building is very centrally- and conveniently-located to other such services within Sapperton. These include: the Royal Columbia Hospital (the emergency entrance to the hospital is located directly across the street), on Keary Street, the nearby Keary Centre and Royal City Medical, plus a LifeLabs med lab, and additional drug prescription facilities at a Shoppers Drug Mart and Save-on Foods Supermarket, each just a short walk away. If the family doctor refers us to a specialist at Columbia Medical, we know it is a great location, easy to get to, and handy to so many nearby additional services if/when required.

After finally a doctor accepted me in this clinic, I was happy!…read moreHowever, my consultations were by phone, and once I needed a doctor note, Michele the staff at reception, took my $60 payment for the DR note but insisted that I come personally to the clinic to pick it up. I was in disbelief ! She read the note and she knew very well that I am ill but refused to email me the note (??) Upon my insistence and explaining again and again that I am ill and cannot go anywhere, she finally said: "I will email the note ONLY this time as we do not offer this service" They charge $170 to fill few line on a form. They charge $80 for a very little tiny page. They charge $85 to $100 for missing appointments. I like my doctor he is a good man, but this clinic is very expensive more than any other that I have ever known. Yet bad service! It is a money making company NOT a clinic and no empathy whatsoever :(

One doctor from this clinic sent my prescription to the wrong pharmacy. Took me a while to find out…read morethe problem since the pharmacy didn't get anything and I got no confirm from the clinic whether they sent it or where did they send it. I had to come back again to get a physical prescription and bring to the correct one myself. That's a breach of patient privacy right there. Should be one star there but my first time at this clinic with a female doctor was decent.

I'm trying to be fair here:…read more There are two jong doctors that are OK. There is an older doctor which I coulden't quite follow. The receptionists are however the worst!

Dr. Gayed has serious communication problems and is extremely rude and arrogant. Dismisses patient…read morefeedback and presents a very hostile and unpleasant persona. Stay away!!

Dr. Gayeed - No Stars. little to no bedside manner, rude, dismissive, and curt…read more The clinic itself is great and I've been going there for years. The MOAs are receptive. It's clean, and my GP is fantastic.

Two back-to-back, appointment-arranged, recent morning visits to this lab for my lady -- I helped…read moreand accompanied her into the lab for each. - first morning - an extended time visit (about an hour), to conduct several procedures. - second morning - a short time in / out to conclude everything. She was well taken care of ... from initial checking in each day, to and through the various tests, and procedures done. And in good spirits when she came back out to the lobby, waved to me, and said "I'm done". .. update -- no, not done quite yet -- her family doctor called and advised that lab tests had revealed an infection present in one of the tests. The lab wanted to run the test again, to confirm ... and it did. A req had been sent by family doctor to pharmacy for an antibiotic to be put on hold, upon receiving the first news -- it was now activated, and I was there to pick it up. All this was done within our Thanksgiving weekend!! A big thanks extended to LifeLabs, family doctor, and pharmacy for their coordinated efforts!!!!

Not able to review my result after 5 days of attempts! No response from their support! Terrible!read more

I'm extremely upset and annoyed with this clinic. I've been coming to the Welcome Medical Clinic…read morefor years and I have had off and on issues with the front staff many times due to miscommunication from them. I absolutely love my family doctor and that's why I put up with the unprofessionalism here but if my family doctor moved to a different clinic I wouldn't hesitate to leave Welcome Medical in a heartbeat. Last week, I called multiple times in the morning to get an appointment with my family doctor. There are always 2 emergency appointments available at the end of the day and its first come, first serve kind of thing. Despite waking up early and being the first to call, the appointments get taken up very quickly. When I called this morning at 8:00am this morning, the phone lines were closed and they didn't open the line until 8:05am. During that 5 minutes I called about 24 times so I can make sure I was the first one on the line. When the MOA picked up the call, I asked for the emergency appointment at the end of the day with my family doctor. The MOA mentioned that the 2 emergency appointments were taken up which was funny because I was the first person to call in. I asked how that was possible and the MOA told me that the supervisor gave the appointments to someone else. I was beyond angry and explained to the MOA if other patients are going to have special privileges and get the emergency appointments compared to other patients waking up early to try to get appointments then its no used to tell patients to call at 8:00am. I've called multiple times to get an appointment and its been over a week and a half and I can't get an appointment no matter what, even if I'm the first one on the line calling in. I would suggest not to become a patient at the Welcome Medical Clinic because the only feeling you would feel and the service is Unwelcome Medical Clinic.

My wife used to take her Mom to Dr there and the treatment and service that they received was…read moredeplorable; He never took the time to check her blood pressure or even want to talk about her problems, because he said that she was very good for her age. Blood checks once a year, never send her to visit a specialists for any of her multiple afflictions. Now that my wife found her Mom a different clinic, with a good Doctor who care about her, she is getting the attention that she required and her health is improving now, with the attention of other specialists as well, thank you. I can post the Dr. Name if required

Needed to get some blood work done and choose to come here for the first time since it's on the way…read morehome. Friendly staff and very clean location. It's on a very quiet floor of the building which is great but also confusing to get to in a way.

I had a lab requisition to fill and was surprised (and thrilled) to find out that a new LifeLabs…read morelocation was opening in this area of Burnaby. And upon checking the lifeLabs website found out it was to be open today. I headed there early, for its first day of operations. I arrived at the facility as the staff were arriving for their first day working at the facility. And was their first customer to check in!! The facility was shiny new and clean, and the procedures conducted perfectly -- thanks to the staff, I could not have asked for anything more. I was called up to to the desk to check in promptly at 7 am (the business opening time), and was out, and walking back home in a matter of a few minutes. My thanks to LifeLabs for opening this new location in the area, and to the friendly, skilled staff conducting the laboratory procedures.

My grandfather passed away in April, and has been receiving mail from this medical office for…read moremonths now. When my mother tried phoning in to alert them of this, the office receptionist claimed she "didn't have time to talk right now", that "the doctor was on vacation" and to "call back when he was back from vacation in two weeks" she was rude and snippy and proceeded to lecture and bite my mother's head off until my mother decided to hang up the phone. I tried calling twice now to save my mother some headache, and not only did the phone ring and ring and ring, but there was an incredibly rude voicemail message that greeted me to explicitly say not leave a voicemail and to call again another time. How hard is it to just be kind in today's world? With my grandfather now passed on I just don't want my mother bothered with old mail from a doctor he can't see anymore and didn't in his last two years of life before he transferred to another doctor. Do better Canway...

I was so happy to see this new clinic open near my work. I called and after 5 minutes of telling…read moreme all the times she can't fit me in, she finally gets around to telling me the doctor can't see me because I was in a car accident and the only 1 doctor they have that can see me is off until December. Really? Not impressed.

Where do I begin (eye roll)...I can only speak from my experience…read more The front desk staff act like they own the place, and you are bothering them just by being there. They dont speak english properly so they often mess up apointments then blame the patients for their mistakes. You can make an apointment, show up on time, and still be waiting an hour for a doctor. I went there for several years and the front desk staff still didn't pronouce my name correctly, and actually asked me , if I've ever been there before. Seriously? It would seem they suffer from memory loss as well a total lack of accountability. There were advertisements for loosing weight and getting injections everywhere! This clinic did not care about my health or well being, and I wouldn't go back.

Loooong waiting periods for appointments but worse than that is the awful attitude when calling…read morethem for any inquiry or need. Doctors, on the other hand, are very experienced and thorough. Big problem is when they leave for vacations and no other doctor can't sign a refill and since they are not a walk-in-clinic anymore so you have to jump through hoops to get the medication that keeps you alive. Again, terrible attitude at the front desk ruins the experience!