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Consulting a medical specialist

General notice

Text message or automated call to confirm appointment request after a year of waiting


Since November 2022, the Service Request Management Centres (CRDSs) across the province have been verifying and updating the waiting lists for several medical specialties. If you have been waiting for an appointment with a medical specialist for over a year, you may receive a text message or an automated call from the new automated system Axelle. You are encouraged to reply by following the steps outlined in the text message or automated phone message you receive. This will confirm your request for an appointment and will validate the identified need for one of the medical specialties.

Note that the CRDS will not send or request any personal information and will not send any clickable links via text message.

If your health condition has changed during the waiting period, do not hesitate to discuss it with a family doctor.

First consultation with a medical specialist

Before having your first consultation with a medical specialist, you must see a family doctor. The family doctor will assess your health and refer you to a medical specialist if necessary.

If you do not have a family doctor, see the page Getting a medical consultation with a health professional to find an appointment with a family doctor. You can also register with the Québec Family Doctor Finder (GAMF).

Urgent consultation with a medical specialist

If the family doctor you see requests an urgent consultation with a medical specialist, they will personally make the appointment for you.

Non-urgent consultation with a medical specialist

If the family doctor believes that the consultation with a medical specialist is not urgent and if your consultation is in one of the designated medical specialties covered by the Service Request Management Centre (CRDS, Centre de répartition des demandes de services), the family doctor will send the consultation request directly to the CRDS. If the family doctor refers you to a specialist who is not on the list of specialties covered by the CRDS, you will have to make your appointment yourself.

Service Request Management Centre for appointments with certain medical specialists

After receiving the family doctor's request for a non-urgent consultation in one of the medical specialties listed below, the CRDS will start the process to find an appointment for you, within a wait time that is appropriate for your condition. Wait times can vary from 3 days to 12 months. This means it may be a few weeks after your visit to the family doctor before you hear from the CRDS. The CRDS will tell you the date, time and location of your appointment as well as the name of the medical specialist you will be seeing.

At present, the CRDS covers requests for consultations with the following medical specialists:

  • Cardiologist
  • Dermatologist
  • Endocrinologist
  • Gastroenterologist
  • General surgeon
  • Geriatrician
  • Gynecologist
  • Hematologist-oncologist/Hematologist
  • Immunologist/Allergist
  • Internist
  • Microbiologist/Infectious disease specialist
  • Nephrologist
  • Neurologist
  • Neurosurgeon
  • Ophthalmologist
  • Oncologist
  • Otorhinolaryngologist (ENT specialist)
  • Orthopedist
  • Pediatrician
  • Physiatrist
  • Plastic surgeon
  • Psychiatrist
  • Respirologist
  • Rheumatologist
  • Urologist
  • Vascular surgeon

The CRDS will cover requests for appointments with other specialists in the coming months.

If your health changes during the wait time, do not hesitate to discuss this with a family doctor.

Specialists not covered by the CRDS

For a non-urgent appointment with a specialist who is not on the list of specialties covered by the CRDS, you will have to make your appointment yourself. The family doctor will give you a prescription for this. The family doctor or the clinic staff will give you the contact information for hospitals or clinics where you can make an appointment.

Follow-up appointment

The medical specialist may ask you to come back to see them for a follow-up visit after the first consultation. This time, you will not need to go through a family doctor. To make your follow-up appointment, you will have to contact the appointment centre of the institution where you saw your medical specialist.

Last update: March 28, 2023

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