Family Health Teams (FHTs) include physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and a range of other health care professionals who are committed to working together to provide comprehensive, accessible, coordinated primary health care services to their enrolled populations.  The teams emphasize prevention and healthy living as much as treating illness.  Patients can be enrolled either to an individual family physician or to the group.

Enrolling with a FHT ensures that patients have access to primary health care treatments or advice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through a combination of regular and extended office hours, and a nurse-staffed Telephone Health Advisory Services (THAS)

Patient Enrolment Requirements

By completing and signing the Patient Enrolment Form, patients commit to the following:

• To seek treatment from their family doctor or the team first, unless they are traveling or find themselves in an emergency situation.
• To allow the Ministry to provide their doctor or the FHT with information about services they have received from family doctors outside the FHT, and some preventative care services.
• To not switch the doctor or FHT they are enrolled with more than twice per year.

Patients remain enrolled unless they are no longer eligible for OHIP, move outside of the geographic area of the FHT, enrol with a primary health care physician in another group, or choose to cancel their enrolment.

Please inform your physician if you are receiving specialized treatment from another doctor outside of the FHT.