Lengthy group lab wait occasions proceed below DynaLIFE for Calgary sufferers

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Calgary sufferers and docs say wait occasions for blood work and high quality of providers stay a priority below DynaLIFE Medical Labs, the personal firm that took over operation of group labs late final yr.

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DynaLIFE and Alberta Well being Providers mentioned Wednesday they’re persevering with work towards addressing these issues, which have been ongoing for a number of months.

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On Tuesday afternoon, the net DynaLIFE reserving portal confirmed the earliest appointment out there in Calgary was on June 24, with nearly all of labs reserving into the primary or second week of July.

In equivalent statements despatched to Postmedia on Wednesday afternoon, AHS and DynaLIFE mentioned they’re actively recruiting employees and bringing in employees from elsewhere in Alberta and Canada “to assist in communities of excessive demand.”

They added they’re increasing operations at some labs in Calgary and space, together with by including weekend service. They cited 1,450 new appointments being made out there weekly, in addition to non permanent new areas being amongst steps being taken to handle wait occasions.

One Calgary physician who requested to remain nameless for concern {of professional} reprimand mentioned she’s listening to from sufferers who’ve travelled out of the town to labs so far as Canmore or Didsbury to get testing carried out. She added her colleagues have complained about prolonged waits to obtain lab outcomes, and mentioned typically outcomes aren’t despatched in any respect or are directed to the improper clinic.

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Calgarians lay out frustrations with service

Jennifer Armstrong mentioned she waited two hours and 20 minutes for lab work on the Richmond Street DynaLIFE location Tuesday morning, regardless of the net wait time reported as solely 11 minutes.

”I don’t perceive how anybody can get lab work carried out and work or take care of their youngsters,” Armstrong mentioned. She added that whereas employees had been following posted directives for face-mask use to scale back virus unfold, she was pissed off that ready sufferers weren’t additionally doing so.

“I additionally don’t perceive why they don’t take masking severely to scale back employees being off sick.”

Jessy Roos mentioned she has needed to cope with an extended delay in receiving the outcomes of lab testing for strep throat this week, with that swab taken Tuesday evening at Alberta Kids’s Hospital after 10 hours ready within the emergency room.

She was informed she would obtain outcomes inside 24 hours, with the pattern flagged for precedence testing, however she didn’t hear from the lab. When she contacted DynaLIFE, she came upon her little one’s swab was marked as “in transit” and its location was not identified.

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Roos finally obtained a textual content from the physician she noticed on the ER early Wednesday morning notifying her that the strep check was optimistic.

“It was about 36 hours from the swab . . . to us getting outcomes, and solely as a result of that physician bypassed the notification system and contacted us instantly,” Roos mentioned. She mentioned she’s observed a marked decline in lab providers in Calgary in recent times.

“It was clearly by no means good, however as of 4 or 5 years in the past, simply earlier than the pandemic, you could possibly get a blood work appointment locally normally inside the similar day or at the very least inside one or two days.”

DynaLIFE says expanded capability coming to a number of areas

Different Calgarians who reported their latest interactions with DynaLIFE to Postmedia described various experiences. Some mentioned they had been capable of rapidly guide an appointment or attend walk-in with out important waits, whereas others mentioned they’d solely discovered appointments weeks sooner or later, and nonetheless confronted lengthy waits for testing and crowded ready rooms when arriving on the clinic.

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A number of famous they discovered success through the use of DynaLIFE’s Save My Place reserving perform to obtain same-day service with out ready as a walk-in.

DynaLIFE outlined in its assertion to Postmedia that expanded capability at some particular areas, together with completely expanded hours at Airdrie, Avenida, Cochrane, Glenbrook, McKnight and Riverbend areas in June, which is able to see 150 new appointments per day at every location.

It mentioned additionally it is opening new clinics within the metropolis’s northeast and northwest this month, and is figuring out an growth website in south Calgary to open within the fall.

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Twitter: @jasonfherring

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