For patients

Preparing for your visit or procedure

What to expect once you have been referred or booked. If the hospital's pre-admission clinic gives you written instructions, follow those over anything on this page.

If you have not heard from us

Referrals are reviewed and booked by urgency, so the wait for a first appointment varies. If your provider sent a referral more than two weeks ago and you have not been contacted, call the office at 226-909-2772 so we can check that it arrived. Please do not assume a missing call means the referral was declined.

After surgery, expect a follow-up appointment within about six weeks unless you were told otherwise. If you have concerns before then, you are welcome to call the office at any time; do not wait for the follow-up.

Your consultation

Consultations are at the physician offices on the 2nd floor of Walkerton Hospital. Please bring:

• your Ontario health card;
• a list of your medications, including over-the-counter medicines, supplements and blood thinners;
• any reports or discs you were given by other clinics, if you have them;
• your questions, written down, and a family member or friend if you would like a second set of ears.

Allow about an hour. If a procedure is recommended, the decision is yours, and you will have the chance to ask questions before you decide.

Colonoscopy

A clean bowel is what makes a colonoscopy safe and accurate. Dr. Stirrat prescribes the bowel preparation that suits your medical conditions; fill the prescription ahead of time and follow the written instruction sheet exactly, including the low-fibre diet in the days before and the clear-fluid day. In general:

• Stop iron tablets and fibre supplements about a week before, unless told otherwise.
• If you take blood thinners or diabetes medication, ask the office what to do; do not stop them on your own.
• You will receive sedation, so you must have someone drive you home and should not drive, work or sign documents for the rest of the day.

Results are explained before you leave. Any biopsy or polyp results go to you and your family physician when pathology is back.

Gastroscopy

Nothing to eat for six hours and nothing to drink for two hours before the procedure, unless your instruction sheet says otherwise. Sedation is used, so the same driving rules apply as for colonoscopy. The procedure itself takes only a few minutes.

Day surgery

Most hernia, gallbladder and skin operations are day surgery at South Bruce Grey Health Centre or Hanover and District Hospital. The hospital's pre-admission clinic will contact you about fasting, which medications to take on the morning of surgery, and arrival time. You will need an adult to take you home and stay with you the first night. Recovery instructions, including wound care and when you can drive and lift, are given at discharge, and a follow-up visit is arranged as needed.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

If you cannot keep an appointment, please call the office as early as you can, and at least 48 hours before, so the time can be offered to someone else. Operating-room and endoscopy time is scarce in a rural hospital; late cancellations and missed procedures delay other patients.

Uninsured services

OHIP covers assessment and removal of skin lesions when there is a medical reason, including any lesion that needs to be checked for cancer. It does not cover removal purely for appearance. If, after examining a lesion, Dr. Stirrat considers it benign and removal would be cosmetic, you can still choose to have it removed as an uninsured service:

• Fee: [FEE] per visit, which includes the procedure and pathology where it is sent. Fees are set in line with the Ontario Medical Association guide and are explained and agreed in writing before anything is done. [UNINSURED CONSENT FORM, e.g. provided at the visit or via Ocean.]
• Other uninsured items, such as some forms, letters and copies of records, are charged according to the same guide. You will always be told the fee first.

Finding the office

Walkerton Hospital, 21 McGivern Street, Walkerton. The physician offices are on the 2nd floor; ask at the hospital information desk if you are unsure. Phone 226-909-2772, fax 519-364-0920. Office hours: Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm.

This page is general information and does not replace the instructions you are given for your own procedure. Your personal health information is handled as described in the statement of information practices.