Calgary cancer screening centre under microscope at health inquiry
Posted Jan 15, 2013 3:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A cancer clinic was at the centre of questioning at Alberta’s healthcare queue jumping inquiry on Tuesday.
The Forzani and MacPhail Colon Cancer Screening Centre is accused of giving V.I.P. patients priority care, while others had to wait years to see a doctor.
Clerk David Beninger testified that in 2011, patients from the private Helios Wellness Centre got tested in weeks rather than waiting two years or more like everyone else.
“Private patients of Helios were being seen at our clinic sooner. I still don’t know why.” he said.
Former clerk Samantha Malyot says when she first started working there, wait times were around four years.
But Malyot testified all referrals from the Helios Wellness Centre would be booked an appointment within a couple of weeks.
She was asked whether she knew anything about the Helios patients.
“No, there was rumours about it being a very prestigious clinic, one that you had to pay to be part of, but that was about it.” she said.
Clerk Dayna Sutherland says if the paperwork was put on her desk by a person in a position of authority she would book it.
The publicly funded cancer screening centre in Calgary opened in 2008 as the first such stand-alone clinic in the country.
