Resources for Primary Care Providers

Quality healthcare relies on strong partnerships and we deeply value our relationship with primary care providers.

By working together, we enhance hospital experiences, ensure safer transitions home and improve the overall health of residents in Niagara.

Latest Updates

Aug. 19, 2025 - CT Acknowledgement of Extended Appointment Timelines

At this time, Niagara Health is experiencing extended appointment timelines for outpatient CT scans due to an increase in referral volumes for imaging.

Please see the memo from July 22, 2025 on our Resources for Primary Care Providers webpage (below) outlining our current CT Scanner Upgrade Project.

If your patient is able and willing to travel, we encourage you to explore alternative referral options, including outside of Niagara, where CT wait times are currently lower. If this is in the best interest of your patient, please let us know to discard the requisition or cancel the future patient booking by contacting the booking office via fax or phone with the original fax requisition date. This is to prevent duplication of services.

If the patient is unable to travel, we will book your patient in the next available CT appointment within Niagara Health.

Thank you for your patience and continued support during this time.

Aug. 1, 2025 - Niagara Health electrocardiograms (ECG’s) available via Health Report Manager (HRM)

Effective Wednesday, August 6, ECG images and results will be available to providers via the HRM. The process of faxing ECG results to HRM users will be discontinued on Friday, August 8.

If you have questions, please contact the SCOPE team.

Aug. 1, 2025 - Patient data for Blood Bank and GenLab now available in OLIS

I am pleased to inform you that as of July 17, 2025, patient data from Niagara Health for both Blood Bank and GenLab is now available in the Ontario Laboratories Information System (OLIS).

This means you can now view lab results from these sources directly in OLIS as part of your routine patient care and clinical decision-making. The gap in patient data from November 9, 2024 to July 17, 2025 will remain.

We expect patient data for Microbiology and Anatomic Pathology (AP) to be available within OLIS some time this fall. Further communication will be forthcoming.

July 22, 2025 - CT Scanner Upgrade Project: Ongoing collaboration to support timely patient care

Thank you for your continued support as Niagara Health undertakes a significant upgrade to our CT scanners fleet – an important step in enhancing diagnostic care for patients across the region.

A project of this size involves many moving parts, and we acknowledge the impact it may have on wait times for some patients as CT scanners are upgraded sequentially. We want to emphasize that throughout this transition, urgent and critical patients will continue to be prioritized.

To help manage volumes and maintain access during this time, we are asking for your support in two key areas:

Please refer non-urgent CT patients to community imaging providers when appropriate. This will help preserve hospital-based resources for urgent and higher-acuity needs and contribute to more timely care overall.
For patients who are able and willing to travel, we encourage you to explore referral options outside of Niagara, such as Brantford General Hospital or Haldimand War Memorial Hospital in Dunnville, where CT wait times are currently significantly lower.

If your patients’ condition changes before their scheduled scan, we ask that you please escalate the urgency by contacting us – alerting our team members that the patients’ priority level may need to be re-evaluated.

We greatly appreciate your flexibility and collaboration as we work to maintain timely access to diagnostic care throughout this transition. For more information about the project, including implementation timelines and mitigation strategies, we invite you to watch a recording of our Town Hall information session.

Thank you for your continued partnership in delivering safe, high-quality care for patients across Niagara.

Resources

Are you a primary care provider with questions about SCOPE Niagara?

Register Now

SCOPE Niagara launched May 25, 2022.

For Urgent HIS Issues that have a direct impact on patient care

Please call the HIS Service Desk 905-378-4647 Ext. 42850 PRESS 3.

For other HIS concerns, please reach out to our SCOPE team. They will escalate the matter to our HIS team, ensuring your concerns are tracked and followed up on promptly.

Health Information Management

Health Information Management Release of Information Specialists can be reached at 905-378-4647.

For site-specific contact information including fax numbers. Visit the Health Information Management webpage.