Urgent Care Policy

Our urgent care policy is designed strategically to offer best patient care.  

Urgent care appointments are scattered throughout the day to maximize the appointments we have available to patients.  Filling them in a defined ordered is required to ensure every appointment gets filled so that we can help as many patients in need as possible. 

We understand it’s not always convenient but – you do not get to choose your time.  If your physician is on site and has an available appointment this is the appointment that is available to you.  If your physician is unavailable, every attempt will be made to have another physician see you.

Requesting or demanding to be fit in with another physician or at a time that is more convenient for you is not possible. 

Please remember, we have a zero tolerance policy for aggressive and disrespectful behaviour towards our staff. This applies when scheduling urgent care.

The following policies are contained in a document that must be signed by all Richmond Medical Clinic Patients.

Our physician team at Richmond Medical Clinic is part of a Family Health Organization, FHO.  A FHO is a group of family physicians who are working together to give you and your family better access to quality primary services.  The physicians at this clinic are committed to supporting each other's patients throughout the day, week and year when your primary care doctor is not available for any reason.

We feel it is in the best interest of you, your Doctor and your continuity of care that you make every effort to visit our clinic for all of your medical needs.  For this reason, we attempt to accommodate our patients within a short period of time as outlined in the Appointment Information section. 

Appointment Information:

Clinic hours are from Monday to Thursday from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm, Friday from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.  The clinic offers same day appointments (subject to availability) for urgent medical issues.  In order to reserve one of these spots, you will need to call the office the same day to book an appointment.  Preferably your appointment will always be booked with your family physician, however if he/she is unavailable, every attempt will be made to have another physician see you.

Our Saturday and evening clinics operate as urgent care clinics for active Richmond Medical Clinic patients only.  Saturday hours are 9:00 am until 12:00pm and Monday to Thursday from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. There is no urgent care clinic on Fridays.  

Please arrive at least 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time.  This allows time for check in and initial evaluation, including vitals, weight, urine tests, etc.  In order to allow the clinic to function on time, and to respect the other patients, your physician may be unable to see you if you arrive late.

Please note:  If your health card is found to be expired or invalid for any reason at your appointment, the clinic reserves the right to ask for a deposit or payment for this appointment.  

Missed Appointments Policy:

This includes not showing up for your appointment, showing up late and showing up and refusing to see the physician for any reason.  Missed appointments deny other patients access to medical care.   No shows will be charged a no show fee between $45.00 and $70.00 depending on your visit type.  If you are unable to attend your appointment for any reason, please call the office a minimum of 24 hours in advance to cancel.  If adequate cancellation notice is not provided, you will be subject to the missed appointment fee.  Multiple missed appointments without adequate reason could be grounds for dismissal from the practice.

Patients who arrive late may not be seen or may need to wait until the patients who arrived on time have been seen.  These may also be classified as "missed" appointments and therefore subject to the missed appointment fee.

Staff do not automatically cancel an existing appointment on your behalf unless instructed by you to do so.  If you book another appointment or if your medical issue is dealt with in another manner, it is your responsibility to ensure any outstanding/future appointments are cancelled, in order to avoid a missed appointment fee.

As a general rule, we do not call to remind patients of their upcoming appointments.  Patients are responsible to ensure they keep track of their appointment information.

Medical Residents & Locums:

We are a teaching facility, this means we have resident physicians on site. Our physicians also have locums (other doctors) covering their practices when they have to take leaves.  Refusal to see a locum at the time of the appointment will be subject to a no show fee.

Abuse Policy:

This office has zero tolerance for abusive or disrespectful behaviour towards our staff, our colleagues or fellow patients.  Any instance of abuse, physical or verbal, may result in immediate dismissal from the practice and termination of the patient-physician relationship.  

Narcotics/Special Medications Policy:

Given the risk of abuse of these medications, in general, we greatly restrict prescribing them.  If you are on these medications and we agree to prescribe them for you, you will be required to sign a Narcotic Contract, be subject to random urine drug screening and the medications will be dispensed in small batches for easy monitoring.  All renewals of controlled substances will be done by appointment ONLY (requests will not be renewed by fax and any requests from the pharmacy will be refused).  Any breach to the Narcotics Contract could result in dismissal from the practice and will result in discontinuation of further prescription renewals.

You may discuss prescription of medical marijuana individually with your family physician.

Medication Renewals Policy

Prescription renewals not requiring a medical appointment for renewal or cases where the patient chooses not to come in for an appointment will be billed a $25 fee. If you do not wish to pay the fee, simply book an appointment. Some medications absolutely require a medical appointment for renewal. When a patient has an appointment for a medication renewal, there will NOT be an administrative fee.  Please allows up to 10 days processing time for your physician to refill your prescription.

It is the patient’s responsibility to book appointments to renew your medications before they run out.  You should be booking your medication renewal when you pick up your last refill, or at least 2 months prior to when you need it to ensure sufficient calendar availability in your doctor’s schedule. 

If you are unable to get an appointment within 2 months, you will be scheduled into your physician’s next available spot and there will not be a bridging charge to cover any gap until you are seen by your physician. If you refuse an appointment because it doesn’t fit within your schedule but the physician’s availability allows them to see you within 2 months, you will be charged a prescription bridging fee of $25.

Exceptions: All prescription renewal requests for narcotics and/or controlled substances require an appointment with your physician. 

Forms Policy:

Completion of forms is considered an Uninsured Service and is not covered by OHIP.  The clinic has a list of fees for Uninsured Services, as recommended by OMA guidelines.  These are available at the clinic.  Although all attempts will be made to complete forms in a timely manner, as per the OMA and CPSO guidelines, physicians have up to 60 days to completed forms.  

Unvaccinated Patients Policy:

If you choose not to vaccinate yourself or your children and there is an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, you may be asked to only visit the clinic at certain times in order to not come in contact with others at risk of infection from these diseases (babies, cancer patients, patients with immunodeficiency disorders).

Internal Transfers:

We do not routinely allow patients to transfer to another doctor working at the clinic.  The physicians at this clinic work as a team to provide primary care.  The doctors support each other's patients throughout the day, week and year when the primary care doctor is not available for any reason.  You may see another doctor for emergency/urgent care if your doctors in not available.  You should take into consideration that although you may leave one doctor in the group for another - your original doctor may still be involved in providing your health care and you may still have to interact with them.  Because of this, as a general rule, we would recommend that you consider finding another doctor outside of the Richmond Medical Clinic if you are unhappy with your doctor.

Our clinic is open and welcoming of all genders, ages, ethnicities and sexual orientations.  We hope you feel that this is an open and nonjudgmental place where you can be yourself.