Family Practice

Family practice is a branch of primary care that focuses on providing comprehensive care to people of all ages. Family medicine is a crucial part of healthcare, as family doctors are often the first point of contact for their patients throughout their lives.

Ensuring continuity of care helps create a positive long-term relationship between doctor and patient, allowing both to work together to manage overall health and well-being.

Family physicians are involved in everything from diagnosing and treating common illnesses and injuries to providing preventative, primary mental health, maternity, or geriatric care. For most patients, a family physician also helps to coordinate care with specialists, making referrals and providing follow-up care.

As a result, family doctors are specially trained due to the importance of providing care for all ages and genders.

Many people in Canada don’t have a family doctor or will often visit a walk-in doctor because their family doctor isn’t available. This leads some to consider walk-in and family medicine as interchangeable but that isn’t the whole story.  

While a walk-in doctor can provide immediate primary care when time is tight, that doctor won’t necessarily have access to your medical records or any regular prescriptions you are on and other important information. In that sense, a walk-in doctor can help provide short-term care and often can’t provide comprehensive care like a family doctor.  

So, if you have a family doctor, you should visit them whenever necessary. Otherwise, you could be missing the benefits that continuous care brings.  

It’s important to note that many medical clinics offer both walk-in and family practice services, and in some cases, you may visit the same walk-in doctor multiple times but that doesn’t make them your family doctor. 

If you cannot see your family doctor, another primary care clinic, such as a walk-in clinic, is an option for non-emergency care.

To find a WELL Health walk-in clinic near you, use the ‘Find a Clinic’ button to visit our clinic map and search for a Walk-In clinic in your area. If you are looking for a telehealth appointment, VirtualClinic+ offers virtual care across Canada.

Need to register with a family doctor? Various provincial resources can help. For example, the following resources are available: 

How to find a family doctor in Ontario:  

• Visit the Ontario ’Find a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner’ page 

• Use Life Without a Doctor, an initiative by the Ontario College of Family Physicians 

How to find a family doctor in British Columbia:  

• The BC College of Family Physicians has options for finding a family doctor in BC.  
• Your local Division of Family Practice  

• Use the ‘Find Care’ bar on Pathways Medical Care Directory  
• Health Connect Registry can help match you with a family doctor or nurse practitioner 
• Find a Doctor BC can help you find a doctor accepting new patients 

How to find a family doctor in Quebec:  

• Register for the Quebec Family Doctor Finder (GAMF) waitlist for a family doctor in Quebec. 

How to find a family doctor in Alberta:  

• Use Alberta Find a Doctor to search by location for family doctors accepting new patients. 
• The Alberta College of Family Physicians has resources to help find a family physician. 

If you are not looking for a family doctor, you can book a walk-in appointment at a WELL Health clinic you have previously visited or consider using WELL Health VirtualClinic+ for a telehealth appointment.

Also, Urgent and Primary Care Centres are available in many communities and have extended hours for same-day, non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses. 

You can use the WELL Clinics website to quickly find a family practice clinic near you. If you are registered with a WELL Health Clinic Network family physician, select the button below to book with your family doctor.