Services
Minor ailments a pharmacist can assess
For a defined list of common conditions, an Ontario pharmacist can assess you and prescribe — without a doctor’s appointment.
The list
Ontario authorises pharmacists to assess and prescribe for a specific set of conditions. It is a real list with real edges — not a general licence to prescribe — and it has been expanded more than once. Ontario last added to it on 1 July 2026, and this is the list as it stood after that.
This is Ontario’s list as it stood after 1 July 2026, when the province last added to it. A pharmacist can assess and prescribe for these conditions and no others.
Why there are no individual pages for these
The previous site had a separate page per condition, most of them a couple of hundred near-identical words. One list you can scan is more useful than nineteen pages you have to click through, and an assessment is a conversation rather than something you self-diagnose from a web page.
What is NOT on the list
An Ontario pharmacist cannot prescribe PrEP, hormone therapy or STI treatment — though people routinely assume otherwise. Finding that out at a counter after making a trip is a bad experience, and this section exists to prevent it.
Not in scope: PrEP, PEP and doxyPEP. Gender-affirming hormone therapy. Treatment for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis or genital herpes. Antiretroviral therapy. Anything requiring a physical examination beyond what a pharmacist can do, and anything needing laboratory results to diagnose.
Cold sores — herpes labialis — are on the list, which is a common source of confusion, because genital herpes is not.
Anything outside the list needs a prescriber. Kind Clinic on the second floor will run a walk-in, open to anyone, no referral needed. Kind Clinic and Kind Pharmacy are separate businesses under common ownership. You can fill your prescription anywhere.
Kind Clinic →What an assessment involves
A conversation, in a private area rather than at the counter. Your symptoms, how long they have been going on, what you have already tried, what else you take, and your relevant history. Sometimes a look at the affected area, with your agreement.
The outcome is a prescription, advice with something bought off the shelf, or a referral — and being told it needs a doctor is a legitimate outcome rather than a wasted visit. Assessments are covered by OHIP with a valid health card.
Common questions
Do I need an appointment?
The intention is walk-in, with the option to book. Details will be published here before we open rather than promised now.
What does it cost?
The assessment is covered by OHIP with a valid health card. Whatever is prescribed is a separate question — see coverage and costs.
Can I get this now?
No. Kind Pharmacy is not accredited and is not open, so no assessments or prescribing can happen here yet.