[wk_end]

“Routine visit”? “Semi—annual checkup”? Where I live in Canada (Victoria) the health care system is so overburdened that this reads like a sick joke. The cost of living is too high and the government doesn’t pay enough to get family doctors out here, so we mostly just have the ER. This is with an NDP government for nearly the past decade, mind you.

[geenat]

If you're young, schedule an appointment and go in, get your blood work done. Does not require a family doctor. Last time there was barely any wait time for me.

The annual scheduled vists are for older people / seniors.

[wk_end]

You can’t “schedule an appointment” in Victoria. There are walk-in clinics, but the only way to access them is to call the very instant they open (as in within the first few seconds) - they immediately book up for the day, and they won’t book appointments for later dates.