Which Thrive Kids Clinic Services Need a Referral, and Who Can Write One

Which Thrive Kids Clinic services need a referral?

Urgent care and sick visits do not need a referral. General pediatric primary care, gender-affirming care, ADHD assessment, and lactation and breastfeeding medicine all do.

That is the complete list, confirmed with the clinic in August 2026. If your child is unwell and you are trying to be seen for that illness, a referral is not the thing standing between you and an appointment.

Who is allowed to write the referral?

A physician or a nurse practitioner, and it does not have to be a family doctor. A walk-in clinic doctor can write it, which matters because many families in Toronto do not have a family doctor. For lactation and breastfeeding medicine, a midwife can also refer.

You do not need to be an established patient of the person referring you. If you have seen any physician recently, you have someone who can write it.

What if I do not have a family doctor?

A walk-in clinic physician can write the referral, and so can a nurse practitioner. You do not need to find and register with a family doctor first, and this is the most common way families in the neighbourhood get referred.

Why is a referral needed at all?

The clinic's pediatricians see children as specialists, and the referral carries the referring physician's billing number, which is what allows the visit to be billed to OHIP. It is an administrative requirement of billing, not a judgment about whether your child needs to be seen.

What does OHIP cover at a visit?

Doctors' visits are covered by OHIP. Letters and forms are paid privately, therapy with the clinic's in-house social worker is paid privately though it is often covered by extended health benefits, and medications or injections through the in-house pharmacist are paid privately or through extended benefits.

Is an ADHD assessment covered by OHIP?

The ADHD assessment is covered by OHIP from start to finish, and school forms and items are generally provided to families at no charge. Forms and reports may be charged for when another doctor requests them, and medication is paid through the pharmacist like any other prescription.

Is the first lactation visit covered?

Yes, the first lactation visit is covered by OHIP when you have a referral, and it runs about an hour including the doctor's visit. Follow-up lactation visits are paid privately.

The referral can come from a midwife, a family doctor or a walk-in clinic doctor. If you have recently given birth, your midwife is usually the easiest route.

Is Thrive Kids Clinic accepting new patients?

Yes, the clinic is accepting new patients for primary care, with a referral, as confirmed in August 2026. Because that changes over time, call to confirm before arranging a referral.

Does every pediatrician in Ontario work this way?

Not necessarily. Whether a referral is needed depends on what you are asking the pediatrician to do, and clinics set their own requirements, so the dependable answer is to ask the clinic you want to see.

This page describes Thrive Kids Clinic only and should not be read as a province-wide rule.

How do I start?

Ask any physician or nurse practitioner you can see, including a walk-in clinic doctor, to send a referral to Thrive Kids Clinic. To ask about a referral or check current availability, call 416-849-2260. The clinic is at 2686 Danforth Avenue in Toronto.

Referring clinicians can use our physician referral page. Families can also book an appointment, or read more about ADHD assessment and lactation and breastfeeding medicine.

Sources

Which services require a referral, who may refer, what OHIP covers and what is billed privately, and current new-patient status were all confirmed in writing with Thrive Kids Clinic in August 2026. No province-wide referral rule is asserted here, because none could be verified from an official Ontario source at the time of writing.

This is general information for families, not medical advice about your child.

Better kids, better families.