Clinic Policies

Waitlist

It will take several months to meet and roster new patients. Please do not call or come to the clinic in that time - this will not allow you to move further up the waitlist. Importantly, filling out the application below does not guarantee you a spot in the practice. You are not considered a patient of Dr. Davies' practice until you have been contacted by the office, completed a meet and greet, and filled out the required paperwork.

Please see the "Joining the Waitlist" tab for details.

Thank you for your patience during this process!

Appointments

Booking: Please call the office to schedule an appointment at a time that works for you. Appointments are generally scheduled for 15 minutes. This typically allows me to address one major or two minor health concerns. If you have multiple concerns, I would be happy to work with you to prioritize and address the most important issues first. I always appreciate a written list of your symptoms or concerns at the start of the visit if you feel it is more complex, in order for me to determine which symptoms may be related, and which require most urgent attention. To help me meet each patient's needs in a timely manner, sometimes it will be necessary to book a followup appointment in order to dedicate the appropriate care to each of your concerns.

Healthcards: Please ensure your healthcard is renewed and up-to-date - if it is expired, OHIP does not cover the cost of your visit. If you arrive for your visit and your healthcard has expired, you will have a 5 business day grace period to renew and call the office with your updated healthcard number. If this is not done, you will be billed for the visit.

Virtual vs. In-Person: I prefer for almost all appointments to be in-person. I feel the quality of care I can deliver in-person is far greater than the quality of care I can provide on the phone, for many reasons. Having said that, there are certainly times when virtual medicine is a handy tool. As a general rule, I prefer a first visit about an issue to be conducted in person, and occasionally followups can be conducted over the phone for convenience. Sometimes I will leave this to your preference, and other times I will ask you to come in, depending on what I feel is appropriate for the circumstances. Please note that phone calls for scheduled appointments may come from an "unknown" or "blocked" caller - please ensure your phone settings allow this around the time of an appointment.

Late Arrivals: Advanced notice of late arrivals is always appreciated and gives us the best chance at being able to accommodate you on your scheduled appointment day. Unfortunately, arriving more than halfway into your scheduled appointment time may require rescheduling in order to maintain timeliness for all appointments after yours. I do appreciate that extenuating circumstances happen from time to time, but please do your best to be on time for your scheduled appointments.

Missed Appointments: Missed appointments mean missed opportunities for someone in the community to receive timely care. As a result,

24 hours advanced notice of cancellation is required in order to allow us to offer the opportunity to be seen to someone else who is waiting. If you are unable to provide this notice, there may be a fee. Please let us know if any circumstances beyond your control were a factor in your missed appointment. Thank you for understanding.

Same-Day Appointments: Each day there will be a small number of appointments reserved for truly urgent issues. Requests for these appointments will be considered on a case-by-case basis; routine care cannot be booked same-day. Please call the office if you feel you need to be seen urgently and our team will do our best to make it happen if appropriate.

After-Hours Walk-in Care

The group of physicians to which I belong is proud to offer our patients access to after-hours care on weeknights and Sundays. This allows you to access care when I am not available urgently, and provides the added bonus that your records are accessible to the doctor you see after hours. Even better, I will be able to access their records of your visit, including any required urgent investigations. This helps me provide you the best quality ongoing care after your urgent need is addressed.

Of course, if you are having a medical emergency, you should be seen in the emergency room without hesitation. Otherwise, please try to seek care through our available after hours clinic whenever possible. This helps me to ensure your care is as seamless and complete as possible.

Harassment, Violence or Intolerance

The foundation of good primary care is mutual trust and respect between a patient and their doctor. I hope my office always provides you with a safe space.

I therefore have a ZERO tolerance policy for any type of abusive behaviour, harassment, violence, hateful or threatening speech or actions. This applies to myself, the nursing and administrative staff in the clinic, my physician colleagues, and other clinic patients. Any such behaviour will be result in immediate dismissal from my practice.

Uninsured Services

The vast majority of primary care services are "insured" - meaning the Ontario government pays for them through your healthcard.

Some services are not covered under OHIP, meaning that you must pay out of pocket for these. This list includes things like sick notes, the completion of forms for work or school, Driver's Physicals, certain wart treatments, and cosmetic skin procedures like mole and skin tag removal. There is an up-to-date list of fees for all uninsured services available at the front desk, and I will always let you know ahead of time if we are discussing care which will not be covered by your health card.

Forms: For any forms you need completed, it is helpful if you indicate you will be bringing paperwork with you when you book your appointment. Often these forms will have sections you must complete yourself - it helps me be efficient with your time if these are completed in advance. I will do my best to complete forms in a timely fashion, but unfortunately I am usually unable to complete a form the same day - they are often quite detailed and in order to ensure it is completed properly for both of our sakes, I may need up to 10 days to complete a form you have provided. The fee for form completion varies based on the length and degree of detail - I will discuss this with you in advance of completion. Form fees must be paid on the day of receipt. Thank you!

My Prescribing Patterns

Generally: I prescribe medications carefully and judiciously. Each physician has their own approach to medication management, and you might find my style different from what you are used to as we get to know one another. Sometimes it takes some time to find the right regimen for you, depending on what you are dealing with.

Opioids: As a rule, I never prescribe narcotic/opioid pain medication at a Meet and Greet visit. I ask all patients on long-term opioid pain medications to sign an opioid contract, and will require routine urine drug screening during some of our followups. Many folks on chronic opioids find their pain management regimen could stand to be improved, and I will work with you to find alternate solutions and safely deprescribe or dose-reduce narcotic medications whenever possible and necessary.

Sleep aids, stimulants and other controlled substances: I am careful about my prescribing of these medications over a long time-course, as they can have dangerous side effects and can be prone to abuse. If you are regularly taking a controlled substance, we will review this together. You may require more regular followups with me than you have been used to with your previous physician.