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Finding care

When your family doctor retires

Losing a doctor who knew your history is a real loss, especially in the middle of perimenopause or menopause. Here's how to get back on someone's list, and how to keep your care moving while you wait.

1. Get on the waitlist today

In Canada, many provinces keep a central list that matches people with a family doctor or nurse practitioner taking new patients. Signing up costs nothing, and it doesn't stop you looking on your own. Three of the larger ones:

In Canada: British Columbia

Health Connect Registry

Register online in about five minutes with your Personal Health Number, or call 8-1-1 (interpreters in over 130 languages).

Open Health Connect Registry

In Canada: Ontario

Health Care Connect

Register online or call 811. A Care Connector searches for a family doctor, nurse practitioner or team taking new patients near you.

Open Health Care Connect

In Canada: Alberta

Alberta Find a Provider

Search for clinics, family doctors and nurse practitioners taking patients, or ask for help and someone will contact you.

Open Alberta Find a Provider

Elsewhere, search your province, state or health service name with "find a family doctor". Ask your retiring doctor's office too: practices sometimes pass patients to a colleague or new doctor joining the clinic.

2. Keep care moving while you wait

Nurse practitioners

A nurse practitioner can assess, diagnose, treat and prescribe, and can be your main provider. The provincial lists above match people with nurse practitioners as well as doctors.

Online menopause clinics

Online clinics that focus on perimenopause and menopause are opening in more places. In Canada, Effica Health offers virtual care in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia, starting with a longer assessment. Check the cost and what your benefits cover before you book, and ask them to send notes to whoever becomes your family doctor.

Read the checklist for choosing an online clinic

Your pharmacist

Ask your pharmacist whether they can renew an ongoing prescription for a short time. In some places they can. Ask before you run out, so a gap in doctors doesn't become a gap in medicine.

Get a copy of your records

Ask the retiring office how to get a copy of your records, or where they'll be kept. Your history, test results and past treatments save a new doctor or specialist a lot of guesswork.

Browse the practitioner directory

3. Make the first visit count

A new doctor or specialist is meeting you for the first time. A one-page summary helps them catch up quickly. Bring:

  • A short list of your symptoms, when they started and how often they happen.
  • Every medicine, hormone and supplement you take, with doses.
  • What your last doctor tried, what helped and what didn't.
  • The one or two things you most want help with at this visit.

If the first appointment doesn't get you what you needed, it's fine to book a follow-up just for menopause, or to ask for a second opinion or a referral to a menopause-trained specialist.

Build your appointment pack Try the 30-second checklist What you can do while you wait

References & further reading

Sources

Where the details on this page come from.