Clinic Policies
Welcome to Symons Valley Firstcare Medical Clinic!
Our policies enable us to provide quality services to meet your health needs, enable ease of patient flow, and allow for both physicians’ and patients’ time to be respected. We strive to create an inviting, inclusive, and accessible environment for all people, regardless of age, race, gender, or sexuality.
We do not permit any verbal abuse on the telephone or in person.
Thank you for your understanding.
Your Family Doctor
Our physicians are not currently accepting patients.
Patients of the clinic are encouraged to maintain a consistent relationship with their physician to facilitate safe and effective healthcare management.
If your family doctor is away, we often have locum physicians covering, and encourage you to see them for routine medical issues.
We are currently experiencing increased patient volume, resulting in increased wait time for appointments.
For urgent concerns, we try to assess patients quickly, but it may be with another physician at the clinic. If this is not possible, our reception will redirect you to other urgent resources.
Scheduling Appointments
Please call to make an appointment as needed, ideally at least 2 weeks before any refills are needed. We do not see walk-in patients.
For patients signed up to the Medeo system, you also have the option to book online. Please be aware that if your physician is away, you may book with their designated locum (covering physician) online as well.
Not all appointment slots are listed in the online booking service. If you have an urgent issue, we encourage you to call us so you may be appropriately triaged and booked.
When booking an appointment, reception will ask the reason for your visit. This is to help triage urgency, ensure appropriate visit timing, and allow our nursing staff to prepare anything that may be required prior to seeing the physician (e.g., check blood pressure, or collect urine).
Our entire clinic, including reception, abides by our privacy policy – your reason for the visit will remain confidential
Requests Made Over the Phone
Please make an appointment if you have any health concerns or questions. Due to our pre-booked schedules, we are unable to provide immediate assistance over the phone or via messages.
Unless specifically instructed by your physician to do so, we do not encourage leaving messages for physicians, as we are often unable to provide immediate assistance and likely will need to need to talk to you directly.
Our receptionists are not able to provide lab results over the phone
Visit Length
Appointments for routine visits are usually scheduled for 15 minutes, while periodic health exams (physicals) and counselling appointments may necessitate a longer visit.
Please allot up to an hour for your appointments. We value your time, and our goal is to ensure that you do not experience extended waits. Unfortunately, unexpected situations may arise, such as a patient presenting seriously ill or requiring additional time, which can delay seeing our pre-scheduled patients. We appreciate your understanding and patience.
If you have several concerns, you may be asked to book a follow-up appointment to ensure all concerns are addressed appropriately.
No Show/Cancellation Policy
Recently, our clinic has noted an increased number of “No Shows” to appointments. This prevents us from seeing other patients in need, and results in longer wait times for appointments.
We have recently implemented a text message-based reminder system. As such, we will be charging all “No Show” appointments a missed visit fee (see uninsured services page for more information).
We require notice of at least one business day for all cancellations. Without appropriate notice, we will charge a missed visit fee, with exceptions for emergencies at the physician’s discretion.
Behaviour & Conduct
Our staff work hard to assist all patients, and it is expected that they are treated with respect. Rude, aggressive, or abusive behavior is not tolerated and may result in removal from the facility and/or being asked to leave our practice. We have a zero-tolerance policy for abuse or harassment.
Pictures or videos are not allowed on the premises of the clinic to protect patient privacy.
With patient consent, your physician may take a picture of exam findings (e.g., rashes, moles) to be uploaded to your electronic medical record. These pictures are not hosted locally and are not distributed in any fashion.
Prescription Refills
Please book an appointment in advance of requiring a refill to ensure you are not without your medication. As our clinic is experiencing an increased number of visits, we may not be able to book you an immediate appointment.
If you are completely out of your medication and do not have a refill prescribed, many pharmacists will provide you a one-time extension on your medications. We encourage you to book a refill appointment with your physician in advance of running out again as pharmacies cannot provide additional refills beyond this one-time exception.
If possible, bring all new/external medications to your prescription refill appointment to ensure our records are accurate and up to date. It is important to know which medications you are on, and pharmacists can often provide you a list of current medications.
We do NOT refill prescriptions via message or pharmacy fax except in extreme circumstances. A charge may apply.
Late Policy
Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment start time.
This time allows you to fill out any appropriate forms, have the nurse complete any required vitals (e.g., blood pressure, height, weight), and change clothing if necessary.
To be respectful of other patients’ time, you may be asked to reschedule your visit should you arrive significantly late for your scheduled appointment.
If this occurs you will be charged a missed visit/late fee.
Virtual Care Policies
During the COVID19 pandemic we are trialing a variety of virtual care resources to ensure both patient and provider safety.
These will generally be offered at the discretion of each physician depending on the current pandemic situation and may vary from physician to physician.
Many concerns CANNOT be addressed via virtual care and require an in-person appointment.
Per Alberta Health/College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta policies, our physicians cannot authorize virtual visits to out of province patients.
Physicians will attempt to call a patient twice, if possible, for virtual/phone call visits.
As physicians schedule full appointment time slots for phone calls, you may be charged a no-show fee at the physician’s discretion if they are unable to reach you.
Electronic Communications
We are currently implementing secure email communication via the Medeo Secure Email platform. If you are interested in joining this system, please provide reception with your email address at your next visit and we can initiate the signup process.
This secure communication is intended for the physician to send non-urgent or routine communications directly to a patient. Per Alberta Health policies, this can NOT be done over regular email.
At this time the system is NOT equipped to allow a patient to initiate a message to their provider directly. For any issues requiring communication with your physician, please call to book an appointment
Confidentiality & Privacy
Our clinic has undergone a privacy impact assessment and complies with the requirements of the Health Information Act. Our data is stored in a secure, provincially approved, and regulated off-site data center. Access to your medical record is as restricted as in a traditional paper office and will only be released in compliance with the Health Information Act.
Referrals & Investigations
All new test results are reviewed regularly. You will be notified of any ABNORMAL results. We do not routinely call patients with normal results, except in cases where missed results may be critical.
We encourage all patients to review their results directly via the provincial My Health Records Alberta website. If there are any questions or concerns about your results, please book a follow-up appointment with your physician.
Please be aware that some online results can be slightly outside of the listed reference range and still be considered normal.
Referrals to specialists require an assessment and will not be initiated via phone call.
Please be aware that non-urgent referrals to specialists may take up to two months before you are contacted by the specialists’ office.
If you are concerned or have any questions, please book an appointment. Our reception is not able to answer any medical questions.
Forms
Our physicians complete forms in accordance with the Alberta Medical Association policies.
We advise all patients to drop forms off well in advance of when they are required. Our physicians strive to complete forms in a timely manner, but at times may require up to 4 weeks to complete them. This may vary if a physician is away.
Our physicians are not obligated to complete all forms and will do so at their medical discretion.
Form completion is an uninsured service by Alberta Health, and form fees are charged for completion (see uninsured services page).
Alberta Healthcare Coverage
To access physician services at Symons Valley Firstcare, patients must present proof of a valid Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan, valid insurance from other Canadian provinces (excluding Quebec), or payment. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Interac, or cash. Patients are invoiced if insurance claims are rejected.
Patients from Quebec may be charged for a visit but can apply for reimbursement through the Quebec Government.
Provincial health insurance covers most acute care services, hospital stays, and routine physician visits. However, not all services provided by family physicians are insured. Please see our list of uninsured services for full details.
Due to recent changes by the Alberta Government, physicians may no longer provide “Good Faith” claims to patients with expired Alberta Health Care numbers. As such you may be charged a visit fee if your Alberta Health Care card is expired.