Your Community Health Centre and You

Who are We?

Community Health Centres (CHC) have been in existence in Canada since the 1920s; there are over 300 CHCs across Canada.  There are 54 CHCs in Ontario.

Ontario CHCs are non-profit, community-governed organizations that provide primary health care, health promotion and community development services, using multi-disciplinary teams of health providers.  These primary health care teams often include doctors, nurse practitioners, dietitians, health promoters, counsellors and others who are paid by salary, rather then through a fee-for-service system. 

Services are designed to meet the specific needs of a defined community.  In addition, CHCs provide a variety of health promotion and illness prevention services which focus on addressing and raising awareness of the broader determinants of health such as employment, education, environment, isolation and poverty.

We are asking you to enrol in your Community Health Centre.  Why?

To Better Meet Your Health Needs!

Your Community Health Centre has joined in a partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care which will improve the way primary health care is delivered in Ontario.  You and your family are invited to enrol with the Community Health Centre to help us better meet your needs.

A doctor or nurse practitioner is usually your first contact with    the health care system. They provide primary health care services like illness prevention, health education, diagnosis and treatment to you and your family. The care they deliver includes making referrals to specialists and being involved with, or informed about your care in hospital.  Your primary health care team also has access to a variety of programs and services here at the Centre and with the Centre’s partners to meet your health and social needs. All the staff at the Centre are working together to give you and your family better access to quality health care services.

Will this change how I access primary health care?

• A doctor or nurse practitioner is available to see you during regular office hours. These hours may include increased evening and/or weekend hours.
• When the Centre is closed a doctor or nurse practitioner is available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Soon you could have access to an added service. After hours you may be able to speak to a nurse at your Centre’s Telephone Health Advisory Service.  The nurse will suggest ways to address your health concerns, such as recommending an appointment with your doctor, nurse practitioner, or another appropriate provider, telling you how you can treat the problem yourself, or advising you to go to an emergency service in your area.  They will also connect you to the doctor or nurse practitioner on call at your Community Health Centre if that is appropriate.  Translators will be available to serve you in the language that best meets your needs.
• With your permission, your Community Health Centre will receive a written summary of your call the next day, so they are kept fully informed about the nature of the problem and the advice you received.
• With your permission, when a doctor outside your Community Health Centre sees you, your Community Health Centre will receive documentation about the nature of your visit so that your CHC providers are always up-to-date about your health care needs.

It’s easy for you to enrol in your Community Health Centre

To enrol, simply read and sign the enclosed Patient Enrolment Form and Consent to Release Personal Health Information and return it to the Centre. By signing the form, you agree that, unless you’re travelling or find yourself in an emergency situation, you will contact your Community Health Centre first when you have a health need. You also agree to allow   the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to give your Community Health Centre information about health services you have received from family physicians outside of your Community Health Centre.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. What is the advantage of enrolling with a Community Health Centre?                                                    

A. You have assured access to primary health care treatment or advice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Your Community Health Centre doctor or nurse practitioner who is familiar with your important health information will care for you during regular and extended hours. After-hours, you can speak to a registered nurse at our Telephone Health Advisory Service with translation available in more than 100 languages. (if applicable and once this service is activated).  You will  also have access to the primary health care provider on call at your Community Health Centre as well.

You may also benefit from your provider’s increased access to secure information technology. Secure technology makes it easier for your primary health care team, involved in your care to update and review your health information so that they always have your most complete and current health history at their fingertips.  Finally, by getting more of your regular health care through the Community Health Centre, you can help relieve the pressure on hospital emergency rooms, making them easier to access when you need them most.

Q. When I enrol with my Community Health Centre can I still see specialists or other health care providers?

A. Yes. Your Community Health Centre provider will be able to refer you to a specialist - one you choose together. He or she will also be able to refer you to another family doctor; either for a second opinion or because another doctor has more expertise about a particular condition. 

Q. How confidential is my medical information?            

A. Information about your health is as confidential as it has always been. All staff at the Community Health Centre are required to respect the confidentiality of your health information. Your provider decides if there’s a need to share your personal health information with other health professionals. If your records are shared through computer systems, it will be done under the strictest conditions of confidentiality that meet or exceed approved privacy standards and regulations.

Q. Can I go to emergency if my child is sick in the middle of the night?                

A. Of course you can. If you think it’s an emergency, don’t hesitate to go. If you’re not sure, simply take advantage of your Centre’s after-hours Telephone Health Advisory Service ( once its available -- until then just call your Community Health Centre for after-hours service). A nurse will provide you with advice about what to do. And you can be sure that in the morning, with your permission, your Community Health Centre provider will have a record of your call and the advice you received.

Q. Do I have to sign the Patient Enrolment Form and Consent to Release Personal Health Information?

A. Yes. You must sign the form to enrol in a Community Health Centre.

Q. Do I have to enrol  at the Community Health Centre  to continue to see the doctor or nurse practitioner I am currently seeing at the Community Health Centre?                                                                   

A. No. The choice to enrol is yours. You can continue to use the services the Centre provides without enrolling. But be sure to talk to your provider before you decide not to enrol. He or she can tell you more about enrolling.

Q. What type of information am I agreeing to share?

A. By consenting to the limited release of personal health information, you are allowing your health care provider to share that information with other health care team members at the Community Health Centre who are involved in your care.

In addition, you are allowing the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term-Care to release, to your Community Health Centre, the dates of immunizations, cervical screenings and mammograms and the dates and types of other primary health care services that you have received from doctors and nurse practitioners outside your Community Health Centre.

Also, you are allowing your Community Health Centre to give the Telephone Health Advisory Service your name, address, date of birth and health number so that when you call the service can report back to your Community Health Centre about your call.

Q. Can I enrol my children as well?                    

A. Yes. To enrol your children under 16 years of age, simply sign the appropriate section of the Patient Enrolment Form and Consent to Release Personal Health Information on their behalf. Young people 16 years and over need to sign the form themselves.

Q. I have a Personal Care Power of Attorney for my father. Can I enrol him with the Community Health Centre?

A. Yes. Just sign the enrolment and consent form on the “Attorney for Personal Care” line. Please make sure you have the Power of Attorney for Personal Care document available, in case we contact you for a copy.

Q. What happens if I want to change providers or cancel my enrolment with the Centre?                             

A. You may change the provider you see most often at the Community Health Centre; the choice of provider is yours.

If, however, you are seeing another family doctor outside of your Community Health Centre on a regular basis, the CHC with whom you have enrolled can remove you from their list of enrolled patients.

If you decide to cancel your enrolment with your Community Health Centre, you don’t have to change your health care provider at the Community Health Centre. He or she can continue to see you on the same basis as before you enrolled at the Centre.

If you do want to cancel your enrolment or consent to share information, or plan to change your provider or leave the Centre altogether, simply advise your Community Health Centre.  You can also cancel by calling the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s patient information line at 1-888-218-9929.

FOR OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT ENROLLING WITH YOUR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE OR ABOUT the Patient Enrolment Form and Consent to Release Personal Information PLEASE CALL YOUR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRE.