No Show Policy
Due to a continuous high demand in prime appointment times, we require a minimum of 24 hours notice per appointment should you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment. As such, your appointment is valuable time that the doctor has reserved specifically for you.
Late cancellations and No Shows create inconvenience and prevent scheduling of other patients who need access to medical care in a timely manner. This helps us be respectful of other patients needs and enables us to give the appointment time to another patient who needs to see us.
Cancelling an Appointment
Please call our office (Monday – Friday) Working business days, prior to your procedure or appointment to notify us if you need to reschedule or cancel the time that was reserved for you. We do not accept cancelations by email or weekends.
Westside Medical appointments which are cancelled or rescheduled without one (1) business days in advance notice will be subject to a $50.00 for a regular appointment and 100$ for a Specialist appointment or longer appointment prior to rescheduling a new date and time.
It is your responsibility, and must be paid in full prior to scheduling your next appointment.
If you are a New Patient and you miss your first appointment, another appointment will not be made with any Physician in the clinic.
Please understand that it is your responsibility to keep track of your upcoming appointment. As a courtesy, we send out appointment reminders to you if we have enough time, however not always .
Prescriptions
Refills are not done by phone or fax. Staff members can not fax lost Prescriptions or lost requisitions .
Please pre-book your next visit before leaving the clinic, to ensure that the timing of your next visit will prevent running out of medication.
We restrict switches by patients between clinic Physicians
As a clinic, we do not believe that this is appropriate, and indeed, we strongly believe in the professional obligation of Physicians to accept Patients on a first-come, first-served basis.
Allowing switches between Physicians for one family member or the entire family within a clinic unfortunately undercuts this foundational principle; it also provides a loophole that incentivizes subtly suggesting to certain Patients that perhaps another Physician would be better suited to their needs and expectations, in the hopes that the Patient requests a switch.
Test Results
Please do not assume “no news is good news”. When tests are being ordered, partner with your Physician in planning what follow-up is needed with regards to the results.
Request to see all the test results your doctor ordered for you specially your PSA, Pap smear, EKG, mammogram, colonoscopy, FIT test, CT scan or MRI, ultrasounds, X-rays. As well as specialist concerns or recommendations on your diagnosis or changes in medications when you have had a referral. Most often, this should result in another visit. If so, book that next visit before leaving the clinic. Your physician can advise you on how long it would usually take for the results to arrive, and can suggest when the best timing for a follow-up visit would be.
Test results are not given by staff over the phone, and are discussed with the patient present.
Booking Your Visit
When making an appointment, please tell us the reason for your visit and have your Alberta Health Care number ready. Family members may come with you, but if they need to be seen by the doctor you must make a separate appointment.
Checking In
Before your appointment, please check in with reception so we can update your information and inform the staff that you’ve arrived. If you are new we will need:
- Your current address
- Your phone number
- Your email
- Your Pharmacy
- Emergency contact number
- Two pieces of ID, including one photo ID
Call at least 24 hours in advance if you cannot make your appointment. This frees up your visit time for another patient. If you’re going to be late for your appointment, please let us know. In some cases we may have to move your appointment at a later time or you may be asked to reschedule your appointment.
Same Day booking
We reserve slots each day for emergencies, acute illness. When this is the case, please call our office at 8 AM, Please be aware this slots are not for follow up appointment or lab results that are not urgent.
Referral to Specialist
You will be getting an email notifying you of your Specialist appointment within 4 weeks. However, if you do not receive an initial update informing you your specialist has received the referral within one month, please contact us by email to inquire about the status of your referral. We prefer email communication rather than telephone communication as we may need to call the specialist office before we notify you of the status.
Uninsured Services
Certain services are not covered by Alberta Health & Wellness. Westside Medical follows Alberta Medical Association guidelines for pricing of uninsured services in every case.