An intake appointment with your new Magenta Health physician will generally be required. Until such intake appointment is completed, patients will remain under the care of their current physician.

At most, patients who meet then decline to register with the physician at the new clinic only have the option of returning to their current Magenta Health physician at the old location. Neither of the following is an option:

1) have another intake with a different Magenta Health physician at the new clinic;

2) register with the new physician, then return to their previous physician after a period of time.

This policy mirrors our standard policy that it is not an option to switch physicians after an initial intake. 

We reserve the right to not accommodate returning to the original physician in situations not in line with the goals of this policy.

Switches will be accommodated subject to physician availability at the new clinic. In particular, depending on demand, physicians at the new clinic may elect to prioritize the needs of new patients currently without a family doctor.

There will also be situations where certain physicians will not be available to accept patient transfers, inclusive of requests for physicians of a specific gender. In particular, certain Magenta Health physicians are obligated to meet quite onerous government imposed quotas for the number of “orphaned” patients (i.e. patients without a family physician at all) that they see. Once you are reassigned to your new physician, you will only be permitted to switch directly into their care.

Because switching clinics involves switching physicians, the primary reasons are the same as those articulated in our physician switch policy.

However, there’s an additional consideration when it comes to switching clinics; convenient access to in-person care is important. This suggests value in accommodating clinic switches in such situations, particularly for individuals with difficulty traveling.

For primarily this reason, pre-pandemic, we had a policy of allowing patients to switch clinics if they have moved and a different clinic is significantly more convenient to travel to.

However, post-pandemic, this policy ceased to be effective for multiple reasons:

1) There has been a significant uptick in requests for switches. This has led to a very large backlog of requests which the physician team does not have the capacity to support. In other words, while the policy officially allowed for switches, in practice, it was rarely possible. A policy that cannot be implemented needs revision.

2) Patients with significant medical reasons for needing to switch clinics were being prevented from doing so because of the large backlog. As a healthcare organization, we feel an obligation to prioritize based on patient medical need.

3) There has been a significant uptick in the amount of virtual care being provided. The frequency of in-person appointments has dropped significantly, while the number of phone and video appointments has remained relatively high. This has reduced the impact of physical distance.

4) We have seen firsthand the struggles of patients who have moved hundreds of kilometres from our locations, but continue to travel to attend in-person appointments because of a lack of family doctors across the province. This last factor has illustrated to us just how hard it can be to find a family doctor, and how we must do everything we can to help our physician team care for as many people as possible.

In view of the above, our current policy has been adopted wherein we are continuing to accommodate clinic switches, but only in certain priority situations. In all other situations, we regret that a clinic switch can’t be accommodated.

In several instances where Magenta Health physicians closed their practice and no replacement physician was found, patients were given the opportunity to move to another Magenta Health physician, but at another location. In these situations, a further switch is permitted only pursuant to the standard policy stated on this page.

Unfortunately, no. Once you elect to leave the practice of your current Magenta Health physician, you will not be able to re-join for a minimum of 3 years. This policy has been put into place due to the high demand for family doctors. We want to try to ensure that as many patients who need physicians can potentially get access to one.

Only if our standard policy applies to you. We regret to advise that moving is no longer a reason for switching clinics that we can accommodate (we did in the past).

In a perfect world, our preference would be to give patients the choice.

Unfortunately, in the circumstances, there simply isn't physician capacity. Existing physicians already have full practices, new physicians are required to primarily accept patients without a family doctor at all, and we weren't able to recruit a replacement physician.

For this reason, in general, there simply isn't the capacity for you to stay at your original clinic. If you aren't able to travel for medical reasons please submit the form on this page and we'll do our best, but in all other situations, we ask for your patience and understanding. Our team is hopeful that patients view this as a better alternative than being left without a family doctor.

We recommend you first read the explanation of our general policy, under the heading "Help me understand this policy please"

For these reasons we are not establishing a waiting list for patients who wish to stay at their original clinic and who do not qualify for an exception for medical reasons.

Our preference is for physicians to not move locations. Indeed, we ask physicians to think about whether this is the right location for them in the long-term prior to joining the clinic. It's a major life decision.

But life circumstances inevitably change. Children arrive. Parents get sick. Spouses change jobs. Life happens. It's different for everyone.

And when it does, we usually work with physicians to search for a replacement physician. Someone who can come in to take over the practice entirely. This introduces its own set of challenges, particularly in situations where a male physician replaces a female physician, but everyone does their best.

Then there's situations where a replacement can't be found - there's a nationwide shortage of family doctors after all. The first time this happened, we were able to find spots for everyone in the existing practices of colleagues. But the second time, we only had space for a fraction of their patients - leaving hundreds of patients without a family doctor.

Accordingly, if your physician has moved or is moving locations, please know that this decision would not have been made lightly. It would be only after a serious attempt to find a replacement physician, and only because the alternative would leave north of a thousand patients without a family doctor entirely.

Most certainly. One of the benefits of the Canadian system is that you have freedom of choice. If you're able to find a more convenient family doctor for yourself, you are welcome to switch. Once you do so, your new family doctor can submit a request for a copy of your medical records.