Code of Conduct

Our staff and physicians are integral to our success in providing the best health services to patients. By utilizing any of our services, you acknowledge and accept the following patient and visitor responsibilities, and refrain from any of the prohibited behaviours listed below.

Patient and Visitor Responsibilities:

• Treat our staff and physicians with respect and courtesy.
• Understand that Appletree Medical Group works with many different levels of need, and the staff and physicians may need to prioritize their time to deal with other higher-need patients. This can occasionally result in late or cancelled appointments with minimal or no prior notice to you.
• Maintain confidentiality and discretion at all times when attending our facilities.
• Ensure that your contact information is always up to date.
• Review your Appletree Patient Portal one week after the doctor orders any diagnostic tests or refers you to a specialist, and again one week after you complete any diagnostic test. If you do not see the request or result filed in your Patient Portal, please call us directly to confirm that the documentation was sent or received. If you do not have access to your free online Appletree Patient Portal, please click here and click on “Register Today”.
• Recognize that Appletree is not a hospital emergency department, nor an urgent care centre, and there are limitations to the services we can provide. If you have an urgent need for medical care, please go directly to your nearest hospital Emergency Department or dial 9-1-1.
• Understand that posted clinic wait times are approximate and that wait times can be longer (or shorter!) than anticipated.
• Recognize that eligibility for certain medical services does not automatically guarantee access to those services.
• Accept that your Appletree physician will decide which medical problems need to be addressed immediately, and which problems can be addressed at a subsequent appointment.
• Accept that Appletree physicians are under no professional obligation to provide inappropriate or unnecessary medical services, including assessments, prescriptions, and diagnostic tests that, in their professional opinion, they determine to be unlikely to offer a benefit or are outside of their scope of practice.
• Understand that physicians may end the physician-patient relationship for multiple reasons, which may include: a significant breakdown in the doctor-patient relationship, a patient’s conveyance of false information, prescription-related fraud, missed appointments without appropriate cause or notice, inappropriate refusal to pay outstanding fees, and prohibited or disruptive behaviour.
• Agree to supervise any children in your care at all times and ensure that they do not climb the furniture or unduly disrupt clinic operations.

Please also review the patient resources and frequently asked questions on our website accessible here. In an effort to provide a safe and healthy environment for physicians, staff, visitors, patients and their families, Appletree Medical Group expects visitors, patients and family members to refrain from unacceptable behaviors that are disruptive to our operations, or pose a threat to the rights or safety of other patients, physicians, and staff.

The following behaviours are prohibited:

• Possession or display of firearms, or any other weapon
• Throwing objects or making menacing gestures
• Assaulting an individual, or threatening to assault another person
• Damaging or destroying equipment or property, or threatening to do so
• Attempting to intimidate others or making harassing, defamatory, slanderous, offensive, racist, sexist or threatening statements (whether through verbal, written or electronic communication)
• Fraud of any kind including those related to insurance, prescription, tests, and referrals

Appletree takes a zero-tolerance approach to the prohibited behaviours described above, and any individual who exhibits such behaviours may be removed from the Appletree facility and/or prohibited from attending any Appletree clinics or accessing Appletree services in the future, in Appletree’s sole discretion. If you are subjected to any of these behaviours, or witness inappropriate behaviour, please report it immediately to any staff member. We always welcome any respectful and constructive feedback, which can be provided here, and appreciate your understanding. We look forward to continuing to serve you and our community.

Appletree Management