If your doctor recommends an interval to follow-up for your next appointment, please book it right away as you leave the clinic, or online as soon as possible, as our schedules fill up.

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All patients can register for Pomelo for online booking with their doctor for routine appointments. This will show the next available non-urgent booking slots.

Once phone lines are closed we are not available for advice or assessments.

For emergencies, if you are a pregnant or post-partum patient call the Coastal Maternity doctor on call at 778-440-3379.

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All non-maternity patients may call 1-855-615-7107 for after hour emergencies.

When you visit other medical facilities, such as the emergency room, specialists' offices, laboratory, or ultrasound, etc., we ask that you confirm your doctor as your primary care or maternity provider. That will help ensure our clinic receives the reports from these visits for follow-up care.

Disrespectful communication with our doctors or staff will not be tolerated. Patients may be terminated if using language or behaviour that is abusive, aggressive, or rude.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you have an appointment booked for prescription renewals prior to running out of your medications. Except in extenuating circumstances, prescriptions will not be renewed without an appointment. Our doctors do not respond to renewal requests through pharmacies.

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If you will run out of your medications, please:

1. Book the next available appointment with your doctor to discussed renewing.

2. Speak with your pharmacist about an emergency supply to last until your appointment.

3. If you will still run out before the next available appointment, please call the office and, if appropriate, a short prescription may be provided at the doctor's discretion.

In order to ensure availability and coverage is maintained for our patients our doctors employ locum physicians as substitutes when they take time off.

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Our staff will make an effort to let you know when a locum will be in the office, but we cannot guarantee this will be communicated to you ahead of time.

Our clinic is a teaching facility for the University of British Columbia medical school and residency programs. We are grateful to our patients for involving them in your appointment as our doctors supervise and teach them.

We have same day appointments, and a few reserved spots with each physician each week, to accommodate urgent in-person appointments. These are typically for acute illness and requests for time-sensitive advice, such as managing complications of medications. To access these urgent appointments you must call the office at 778-405-2594.

It is possible you may not see your regular physician as we cross-cover when a doctor is not in the office that day. 

We ask that you call our clinic for urgent appointments before seeking care elsewhere, such as an urgent walk-in or online clinic, to maintain continuity of care for you and your medical records.

Your physician may occasionally send email communication to you through the secure messaging in Pomelo. Typically these messages do not allow for responses from patients as they are not continuously monitored. We will never send urgent requests through Pomelo and ask that you also do not use this platform for urgent matters.

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Our staff may send you messages in Pomelo for booking reminders, requests for digital file uploads, and other brief messages.

When you are booked for virtual appointment, over the phone or video, please make sure you are available for 2 hours around your scheduled appointment time to answer. Please take the appointment in a private, confidential setting without significant distraction, such as driving. Our doctors may call from a 'Blocked Number'.