Toronto Cardiac Clinic

Dr. Gilbert and staff provide excellent care and my experience with their care was great. Appointments were on time and Dr. Gilbert was able to answer all of my questions and provide much needed reassurance with my condition. The clinic is in a central location and a beautiful facility. Would certainly recommend this clinic.

I found the reception and the nurses/technicians extremely professional and pleasant. My appointment was at the time booked, which is rare for a medical institution. I highly recommend Toronto Cardiac Clinic.

This is the second time my wife has had testing done at this clinic and both times she has mentioned what a horrible experience she has had. She’s had cardiac testing with various cardiac clinics in the GTA for many years for an on going condition but Toronto Cardiac Clinic has been her ONLY bad experience to date. Staff lack patient advocacy and decency. Communication is out the door as proper instructions are never given correctly. She felt uncomfortable and vulnerable through out her entire testing procedure. We would give Toronto Cardiac Clinic zero stars if we could.

This rating is Only based on the technicians. I had multiple tests done at this clinic, the technicians I had were I had were kind, professional and communicative. Special mention to Carlos who could not have been more amazing in every regard. I have had challenges with other areas of this clinic but have not finished my experience so I will wait until I review the whole process.

Had a rough start with a delay in treatment /testing due to staff cancellation , however Beata the offices manager went over and beyond to correct the issue and ensure proper timely treatment

Canadians are so fortunate to have access to good medical care. I consider myself particularly lucky to be connected to the wonderful people at Toronto Cardiac Clinic. Dr. Overgaard is such a reassuring, personable, down-to-earth guy who goes above and beyond to make it okay. Beata and the staff make it all possible and have been doing a commendable job throughout the pandemic to keep the clinic operating in a responsive manner. When I visited them yesterday, I wanted to buy them all treats from the little Greek bakery just east of them, but it was closed. :-(

The receptionist on the other side of the phone spent 15 minutes acting about as contrarian for a health care provider as I imagine one possibly could. - was given 4-5 dates and was requested to choose one before the receptionist would answer who the specialist was and why I was meeting with them. - I was unable to stop the receptionist from speaking over me as she explained to me that I lived in London Ontario and that I was only able to make a phone consultation (I live in Toronto, it took almost 30 seconds for the interrupting to stop and for me to indicate I was looking to meet a specialist in person). - The receptionist then started making allusion to the fact that the appointment would be an EKG procedure and other readings, and that the consultation would actually be a different day. I asked if I could get the date for both, and was interrupted repeatedly while the receptionist explained basic procedures like how she makes appointments and how readings are passed to a specialist for follow up soon after. It took another few minutes to ask the receptionist if she could please clarify the available dates, rather than tell me about the Toronto Cardiac Clinic’s internal scheduling logistics. I unsuccessfully spent the next few minutes asking the receptionist to please slow down while I clarified a lot of non-sequitor information that was coming out despite my pleading. - proceeded to mention several new dates without indicating which appointment she was referring to, often would railroad me asking her to slow down while I tried to clarify, started getting defensive when I asked her again to allow me to copy the information first before moving on to other day’s appointment details. She would blow past answers of date/time/subject questions I was asking, and in the same breath/sentence would ask if another day worked or if a time would work on a day I was still trying to clarify. (TLDR - Very difficult to even speak or follow the information). - The last five minutes of the call were laced with what I’ll describe as defensive deflecting. If I tried to answer a question she asked, and then ask for a clarification, I was cut off again from speaking while she asked twice for me to answer a question, and twice I gave the same answer back. - beyond trying to explain the above without context, this is a prime example for me of elitist behaviour from staff in health care. I don’t really think individuals who react the way this receptionist acted over the phone should be anywhere near intake or scheduling for health services, nor do I think there is a realistic chance for an individual of low income (or most private citizens) to effectively call out or indicate where and when impeding and obstructing access to health care happens, often because there’s no precedent for when individuals who gatekeep health services are acting antagonistically or unhelpfully towards a diverse group of patients that are not specialized health professionals themselves. There is no response to concerns over behaviour, there is no effective oversight, there is no way to reach out to health governing bodies or MPs in a meaningful way. The clinic reeks of privilege and a lack of compassion, and after a few attempts at reaching out to the CAMH to ask about experiences in the health industry in Toronto, this type of clinic is exactly what I would fear could destroy Canadian’s access to quality cardiac healthcare if a certain party’s esoteric consideration of privatizing Ontario’s health system actually came to be. As it stands, the process of first contact within the health system is crucial, especially for individuals who don’t have the resources or time to be accosted by your staff to receive medical testing. If I wasn’t desperate with no other option or had a choice, I would avoid this clinic. Since I have no other options, and since that’s a perfectly reasonable way to claim care has been provided, I’ll warn anyone experiencing adversity that this clinic will be an uphill battle until first contact in health care is taken seriously.

I was referred to Dr Cameron Gilbert in January 2022. My experience was not good and I detail this below, however please read the update as well. I experienced gaslighting, including him dismissing my symptoms, not providing a simple cardiac test which would have greatly helped ease tachycardia and ignoring my continued symptoms after a second call, instead suggested I needed a medication for my nerves. Experience below: After several tests (ECG, Holter monitor, chest ultrasound), I had my first phone conversation with Dr Gilbert in the middle of January. He spent around 10 minutes telling me repeatedly that I had a young and healthy heart, never once pausing to listen to me say: “Yes, I know I’m healthy. That’s precisely why when my resting heart rate of 54 goes up to 95 or 110 when I stand up, it feels like I’m sprinting up a hill.” I had even looked up possible causes, landing on Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), for which I fit all the markers. Could it be POTS, I asked him, and can we do the (very simple) test for it? Not likely, was his answer, and anyway, these symptoms should all go away in a few weeks. Instead, my symptoms got unbelievably worse. I began to see other doctors, and discovered that if I put in practice the care for POTS I had read about from other women and medical journals online, some of the tachycardia/dizziness/intense fatigue/breathlessness would ebb. Around 6 weeks later, I had another call with Dr. Gilbert. I told him that everything had worsened, that I had been to see other doctors, I was caring for myself, and indeed, I did have POTS and it was coupled with adrenaline surges – where your nervous system is in constant fight or flight mode because of improper epinephrine released into the bloodstream – a type of POTS. And that the one to believe me, test me, and prescribe me the very helpful betablockers for my heart was my woman family physician. You would have thought at this point, that he would have paused. Instead, Dr. Gilbert suggested I go off the betablockers, and instead use an anti-anxiety medication. When I noted that I knew of that medication very well, that it was not accurately linked to my symptoms, and the betablocker was helping, he kept on, telling me it would help ‘calm my nerves.’ It did not end there. Unbeknownst to me, he recommended to my family physician that I be removed from the betablocker for my heart, and put on anti-anxiety medication, despite me telling him several times how well the betablocker was working for me – despite him never having seen me in person, and never having tested me for POTS. I’m so lucky (though I shouldn’t have to be) to have a family physician who listens to me, sees me in person and understands which medications work for which issues. Four months later, I’m a full POTS person, and no, my symptoms have not magically disappeared. I had to get to the place I am now having learned from other women and from reading medical journals and research, and help from other doctors. Zero thanks to Dr. Gilbert who would have had me on an anti-anxiety medication with continued tachycardia, suffering and in pain, telling me I'm young and healthy and it should all just disappear. Update: on the same day as posting this, Dr. Gilbert called me. It was an amicable conversation, in which he apologized several times, did not try to counter my experience and explained a little further about his different decisions. While true that healthcare during pandemic lockdowns has not been the greatest, it perhaps lends itself to even more careful consideration about treatment. However, he also offered several different routes moving forward. I appreciate this, and its certainly not every doctor who is as forthcoming and apologetic after such a review is brought to their attention. For this reason, I would encourage those seeking treatment with Dr. Gilbert to engage as they see fit, to be advocates for themselves, and knowing that one experience (or review) does not represent a global picture.