FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENTS

1. Follow-up appointments are booked at intervals appropriate to the clinical situation. Because of Dr. Coombs’ focus on autism, adult appointments are typically booked no more often than at 3-4 month intervals. Children are initially seen every 6-8 weeks. As a person's general health improves, the time between appointments is increased.

2. Consultation by e-mail and telephone can be done for issues requiring follow-up between office visits. These are not paid for by provincial health insurance, and are billed on a time basis.

3. Patients are requested to maintain ongoing liaison with their family doctor or pediatrician. If an urgent issue arises that is not related to treatments being provided by Dr. Coombs (e.g.: acute infection, injuries), patients are advised to see their family doctor or go to the closest emergency department. When appropriate, they can also contact Dr. Coombs’ office for advice on the appropriate course of action.

4. All follow-up appointments and interval requests for clinical advice must be accompanied by a completed follow-up questionnaire. Links for these questionnaires are on the questionnaire page of this website. When advice is being sought by telephone, the questionnaire can be downloaded from this website, filled in, and faxed or e-mailed to the office before the telephone consult.

5. PLEASE PROVIDE A COMPLETE LIST OF MEDICATIONS (both drugs and nutritional supplements) at every appointment and telephone consultation. Follow-up visits and telephone consultations take much more time when this is not done in advance.

6. Filling out repeated follow-up questionnaires is made far easier by keeping a copy of the questionnaire on your computer as a template, and including on it a list of all medications. Type your paragraph here.