The Urgent Neurology Clinic Referral Process
We require a referral from a family doctor in order to schedule an appointment at the Urgent Neurology Clinic. In some cases, we will accept referrals from the Emergency Department, but these must be accepted by the Neurologist on-call before the referral can be made. If a referral from the Emergency Department has been made without contact with a Neurologist, the referral will be declined.
Why was a referral made to the Urgent Neurology Clinic?
The purpose of the Urgent Neurology Clinic is to provide assessment, diagnosis and attachment to a primary neurologist for ongoing management. The types of patients the Urgent Neurology Clinic would see have symptoms that are NEW and / or progressing (getting worse) over days or weeks. If a referral has been made to this clinic, it’s because the doctor you saw (your family doctor or emergency physician) made the decision, based on their examination, testing and history of your symptoms that you needed to be assessed by a neurologist in this clinic.
Referrals MUST include the duration of symptoms as well as a CLEAR reason for referral. For information on what constitutes a ‘good’ referral, please review the QuRE Checklist
Referrals are received and triaged everyday. Referrals received late Friday or on the weekend will be triaged on Monday. Once the referral is triaged by a doctor, our office will call you to either:
- Schedule an appointment. If the office is unable to reach you after 3 tries, your referral will be closed, and the referring physician will be notified.
- Let you know your referral has not been accepted, and provide you with further instructions (including advice if another course of action is suggested or to follow up with your family doctor).
If your referral has been accepted, we will do everything we can to see you within 5 business days.
Many patients are waiting for an appointment. When you miss an appointment, it also means we’ve missed seeing another patient who needs care. It is important that you keep your appointment time, however, if you are unable to make your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible by contacting us at (FMC) 403.944.2372 or (RGH) 403.943.8552. Should an unexpected situation arise, please give us at least 48 hours’ notice. Advance notice of a cancellation will allow us to give the appointment time to someone else and to meet urgent appointment requests.
Who can I contact while I’m waiting?
Remember – referrals are looked at every day. Please allow us 24hours to contact you after the referral has been made
If you need to reschedule an appointment, or call us back (e.g we’ve left you a message to make an appointment) please call us at (FMC) 403.944.2372 or (RGH) 403.943.8552.
If you are concerned about your symptoms while you are waiting, please contact your family doctor, call HealthLink at 8-1-1 or, if it’s an emergency (for example uncontrolled seizures, unexplained loss of consciousness, difficulty breathing or swallowing) please go to your nearest Emergency Room.