I don't "know" people, connections have never played a role in the healthcare I received (except the lack of them I suppose). This is simply not my experience. I'll go over me actual experiences:
1. Potential appendicitis. Got a cat scan within hours of arriving at the hospital. Admittedly if this was actual appendicitis it would be a "about to die in the next month without surgery" situation (turned out not to be).
2. Weird long term issue relating to alcohol causing a literal pain in my side (sharp pain, relatively minor). Completely non-urgent, this existed since I first drank alcohol and the most likely explanation is that "some peoples bodies just don't like alcohol".
The doctor first asked for a ultrasound to diagnose that, no appointment necessary, literally walked into the ultrasound place, gave them the paperwork, got an ultrasound, walked out in under 20 minutes.
Ultrasound from that didn't end up turning up anything useful, so the doctor asked for a chess x-ray. This time an appointment was necessary, I made it via phone that night. A spot was available the next day. Again I walked in, got an x-ray, and left in under 20 minutes.
Various other tests (e.g. bloodwork for a few things) followed a similar pattern.
I do live in Toronto, and these experiences were downtown (the non-hospital imaging was all done in the kensington health building, I think the hospital was east general), which has a higher concentration of health services than most of Ontario/Canada.
1. Potential appendicitis. Got a cat scan within hours of arriving at the hospital. Admittedly if this was actual appendicitis it would be a "about to die in the next month without surgery" situation (turned out not to be).
2. Weird long term issue relating to alcohol causing a literal pain in my side (sharp pain, relatively minor). Completely non-urgent, this existed since I first drank alcohol and the most likely explanation is that "some peoples bodies just don't like alcohol".
The doctor first asked for a ultrasound to diagnose that, no appointment necessary, literally walked into the ultrasound place, gave them the paperwork, got an ultrasound, walked out in under 20 minutes.
Ultrasound from that didn't end up turning up anything useful, so the doctor asked for a chess x-ray. This time an appointment was necessary, I made it via phone that night. A spot was available the next day. Again I walked in, got an x-ray, and left in under 20 minutes.
Various other tests (e.g. bloodwork for a few things) followed a similar pattern.
I do live in Toronto, and these experiences were downtown (the non-hospital imaging was all done in the kensington health building, I think the hospital was east general), which has a higher concentration of health services than most of Ontario/Canada.