General Information
Scarborough SCOPE (Seamless Care Optimizing Patient Experience) helps primary care providers to navigate a wide range of hospital and community services and resources. Our program is a partnership between Scarborough Health Network (SHN) and Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities (SCHC) that features an interprofessional team of experts and specialists. Together, we work collaboratively with primary care providers to support, treat and care for patients and families. Since its launch, SCOPE has helped many patients avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and get the care they need sooner.
Our services
With its dedicated phone line, SCOPE serves as a single access point for registered primary care users to navigate a wide range of services – from speaking with a specialist, setting up a consultation, or booking appointments, to connecting with resources, and getting support for patient care questions.
The Internist on-call provides the primary care provider with an immediate consultation and urgent assessment and management of their patient’s medical conditions.
Our internal medicine service also provides access to specialty clinics as well as long-COVID service.
Connects primary care providers with a mental health coordinator, who can create a bridge to mental health services, such counselling, psychiatrists, and referrals to community-based services. This includes SHN’s clinical intake team, mood and Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinic, and Ontario Shores psychiatrists.
Provides primary care providers with direct access to diagnostic imaging staff who can escalate urgent imaging requests, answer questions about different tests and results, and refer directly to the radiologist on-call.
Assistance navigating the system to get patients more timely access to consultations, condition management and surgical follow-up care. An extension of this pathway also provides access to SHN’s Shoulder Clinic for non-fracture, acute or chronic cases.
How it works
Step 1: Become a registered Primary Care Provider user
We invite primary care providers (PCP) to get started with SCOPE today. To register, please complete the provincial SCOPE online registration form.
Step 2: Call the SCOPE phone line
Registered PCP users can get started with navigating services, support and resources by calling our phone line.
Step 3: Select the service you need
Using the phone line, registered PCP users can choose from several options to connect directly with the services you’re looking for:
- Nurse Navigator
Press 1 to speak with our Nurse Navigator - Internal Medicine
Press 2 to connect with an internist or access COVID-19 services - Mental Health
Press 3 to connect with a mental health coordinator - Diagnostic Imaging
Press 4 to connect with SHN’s diagnostic imaging staff and booking office - Fracture Clinic
Press 5 to connect with an Orthopaedic Navigator
You may also leave a message and our team will get back to you within 24 hours. Our team is pleased to assist primary care providers to register as part of their call to ensure quick access to services.
Hours of operation
Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information, please email ScarboroughSCOPE@shn.ca.
Provincial SCOPE hub
The SCOPE program is is offered collaboratively throughout Ontario by several different hospitals, healthcare providers and community partners. Across the province, there are more than 1,600 registered SCOPE users, and more than 60% of solo primary care providers in Toronto have access to SCOPE.
For information about the provincial SCOPE collaborative, please visit scopehub.ca.
SCOPE in the news
Read about the work Nurse Navigators from SHN and SCOPE programs across the province are doing to connect patients with the care they need. Please note this content is behind a paywall on the official Toronto Star website.
Resources for Physicians
Get Started with SCOPE
We invite primary care providers (PCP) to get started with SCOPE today. To register, please:
Complete the provincial SCOPE online registration
OR
Call the SCOPE
phone line
Scarborough SCOPE By The Numbers
176
Registered Primary Care Physicians
1,132
Calls received since
March 2021
49
Calls received in
November
HOW SCOPE HELPED – Healthcare professionals share their experiences
We frequently hear from physicians about the difference SCOPE has made for them. Come back and visit this section as we update it regularly with the experiences of your Scarborough colleagues.
“The Scarborough SCOPE mental health pathway has been an invaluable resource for supporting my difficult mental health cases. I have found the assistance they provide especially helpful in connecting me to local mental health resources and social supports.
For example, I recently contacted the SCOPE mental health pathway for help with a patient experiencing depression and acute homelessness. The patient was contacted by the SCOPE social worker and connected with local supports for housing and financial assistance. It would have been impossible to address her depression without first addressing the relevant social determinants of health.
I would strongly recommend that my fellow primary care providers utilize this invaluable resource when they feel “stuck” dealing with complicated or difficult social situations.”
– Dr. Sean Haber, Scarborough Physician