Looking for a family doctor?! Info about specialist referral?! CLICK HERE!

[Macadamia]

https://www.cpsbc.ca/cps

Check this website for a physician who is accepting new patients in your area.

Walk-in Clinic doctors can act like your family doctor if you see him on a regular basis. However, walk-in doctors have some limits, such as signing permanent residents and passport applications. They are not authorized to do this.

[Macadamia]

Specialist Refferals

1. First off, go see your family doctor/walk in clinic doctor.

2. Request that you would like to be referred to a specialist.

3. Secretary will contact you with specialist time/date.

* You CAN NOT phone up a specialist's office and make an appointment yourself.
Only places you can are: Podiatrist (foot doctor), Chiropractor, Massage Therapist, Physiotherapist, and Cosmetic Plastic Surgeon. These places don't require a referral.
These places may require you to pay a sitting fee.

*Do show up to the specialist's appointment. It's quite a lot of work for the receptionist on both ends to arrange this appointment for you. Both clinics are busy. If you do a "no show", lot of time is wasted and you may even be billed $40-$100 for not showing up. If you can not keep the appointment, please phone at least 24 hours to cancel or reschedule.

*Once you get a specialist's referral; it is good for 6 month.

[Macadamia]

Walk-In Clinic Etiquette:

Usually there is a wait for these clinics. So the best thing to do is to go in, and put your name down, and come back. Ask the receptionist how long the wait is and they will tell you. Again, this is an estimated wait time.

It is not the receptionist's fault if the doctor takes too long with one patient and the wait time is long than it is estimated. (People have yelled at me many many times, that I'M suppose to know. No, no and no.)

Always check back with the receptionist when you do come back. Don't just come back and sit down. We see TONS of people and we lose track of who is who.

If you phone in to put your name down on the day sheet, the receptionists will not do it. You HAVE to go in IN PERSON. When it's your turn to see the doctor and you are not there; the receptionist WILL NOT phone you.

Do not go to a walk-in clinic before closing; reason being is that doctors have a limit of seeing a number of patients per day. For where I work, it is 50 patients per doctor. By the end of the day doctors cap out. Always call before going in. But during the day it should be fine.

There are some prescription drugs that walk-in doctors will not fill; even Tylenol #3.

In some strange cases there are doctors who will refuse to give any contraceptive advice, fill any birth control pills, give you the morning after pill or talk about abortion due to their religious beliefs.

[Conan]

I would also like to add that optometrists do not require referrals either.