Clinic Policies

Booking Appointments:
To book an appointment, please call our office at 519-571-8181. Regular appointments are scheduled for 10 minutes. Considering the time allotted for regular appointments, it is best to address only 1-2 concerns per visit. This ensures that your family physician can appropriately address your concern in a safe and comprehensive manner. Additional medical concerns that arise will need to be addressed at a separate appointment.

Same-Day Services:
Each of our physicians offers same-day appointments for your semi-urgent healthcare needs. If you have an urgent/emergent health problem outside of our office hours please visit the emergency department. Please note that if you miss your Same-Day appointment you will be charged $80

Evening and Weekend Services:
Our clinic is pleased to offer after-hours clinics intended for semi-urgent health concerns. To access these services, you must call to book an appointment. This is not a walk -in clinic. Clinics are held Monday to Thursday (5 pm-7 pm) and Friday-Saturday (10am-noon), but are subject to change. Please check our website for updated clinic times at www.skfm.ca.

Cancellation and Late Arrival for Appointments:
If you need to cancel your appointment, please call the office and leave a message at least 24 hours in advance. Cancelling in advance gives us the opportunity to offer your appointment to another patient in need. If you miss your appointment without providing 24 hours’ notice, you will be charged a missed appointment fee (see list of uninsured services). If you arrive more than 5 minutes late for your appointment, your appointment will be considered missed, and you will be asked to reschedule for another date. You will also be charged a missed appointment fee. We work hard to keep our clinic running on time, and we appreciate it when you arrive early for your appointments. We advise arriving at least 10 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.

Test Results:
Your family physician will review all your test results that they order (eg: blood work, x-rays, etc.), and you will be called for a follow-up appointment to review your results if your physician deems it necessary. You may also book your own follow-up appointments to review and discuss any test results. Please do not call the office asking for your results, as our receptionists are not trained to give test results over the phone.

Forms:
Forms may require a discussion with your family physician prior to being completed. Unless told otherwise, please do not drop off any forms at the office for your family physician to complete. You must make an appointment to review your forms with a physician or nurse. Completion of many government and insurance forms is a service not covered by OHIP, and you may be billed an appropriate fee for form completion (see list of uninsured services). In general, forms will take 2-4 weeks to complete. 

Address, Phone Number, E-mail Change:
It is important that we know how to reach you. Please inform us of changes to your address, e-mail, or phone number(s).

Uninsured Services:
OHIP does not pay for many of the services that you may request from your family physician, such as insurance forms, sick notes, physiotherapy/massage/orthotics notes, and doctor’s letters. As a result, our office does charge fees for these uninsured services. A list of uninsured services and fees is available on our website. Our fees for uninsured services are based on the provincial guidelines established by the Ontario Medical Association.

Harassment:
There will be a ZERO tolerance policy for any form of harassment and/or abusive behaviour towards patients, receptionists, administrators, nurses, medical office assistants, physicians, and any other person at our clinic. This includes verbal, physical, and sexual harassment and any inappropriate or abusive communications via email or telephone. Any such harassment and/or abusive behaviour is grounds for immediate dismissal of the patient from the medical practice. 

Important Phone Numbers:

Emergency 911

Poison Information 1-800-268-9017

Grand River Hospital 1-519-749-4300

St. Mary’s Hospital 1-519-744-3311

Crisis Line (mental health) 1-844-437-3247

Waterloo Public Health 1-519-575-4400

Uninsured Services