Welcome to Dr Lam's Medical Clinic Website!
Dr. Lam's Clinic is a family practice dedicated to providing medical service to registered patients. It also provides on-call service on certain days as part of the Ancaster FHO group after hours and on weekends.
All consultations are done by appointment. These can be booked by phone or online
To book an appointment with Dr Lam please call 289-239-8426 or book online
Dr. Lam's Family Practice is currently NOT accepting new patients.
Patient CHR Connect Portal (App and PC): https://chrconnect.telushealth.com/login
Patient's Online Portal Website: https://dhklmedical.inputhealth.com/portal/#login
Fee recommendations regarding certain forms or procedures which are not covered by OHIP have been updated. Some fees such as Driver's Physicals, and TB tests have increased in price.
ON-CALL SCHEDULE
Oncall Service
Dr. Lam is part of a group of 12 doctors who have agreed to take turns staying late on evenings and weekends to provide urgent service to rostered patients of all 12 doctors. Only urgent issues are addressed, routine issues will be differed back to the family doctor at a later date. The On-call service is important, as a copy of the consultation will be sent back to the patient's family doctor for record keeping.
On-call is for urgent medical situations only. If your issue can wait until the next clinic day for your family doctor please do so.
Prescriptions and referrals are not appropriate for on-call.
The on-call doctor will likely speak with you first to determine if the issue can be solved over the phone or if it needs an in-person assessment.
The on-call doctor does not have access to your full medical record. Be sure to have your healthcard handy when calling.
Announcements
The TELUS APP
TELUS has introduced a new App which centralizes messages, appointment booking, and notifications from the clinic. It is still being reviewed and corrected, so bugs and errors may occur.
For existing patients, when you first open the APP be sure to chose "Sign Up" to create your login details. You have a choice of Google ID, Apple ID, or a simple email + Password. Once this is done, it will ask for your DOB, Healthcard number, full name to match your profile in our system. Remember which login method you choose when you sign up (Google/Apple/Email) as you must use those same login details each time.
Click here to be redirected to the instructions page of Telus.
New Developments in progress
Family Management - There will soon be the ability for parents to manage the accounts of their children on the App!
Chat Bot Help - Telus is working on a bot that can try to help you if you are having any trouble.
TELUS App ERROR Messages: The two most common errors and their explanations are as follows:
"WE ARE NOT ABLE TO CONNECT YOU TO THIS CLINIC" - This happens when the patient has already created an account with a Google ID, Apple ID, or email, and then tries to login with a different ID instead of re-using their original login credentials. To resolve this, try the other login methods to ensure which method is your original method.
"THIS CLINIC IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS, REGISTRATION IS CLOSED" - This means the APP is not able to match the information the patient input versus what exists in your patient chart. It validates first and last name, DOB and ID number (OHIP Health-card). If one of these fields doesn't match, the patient is considered as a new patient and as this clinic is not accepting new patients, this message is displayed.
If you continue to have any issues, you can contact chrconnectsupport@telus.com for help. TELUS is also working on a chatbot who can assist too.
Important Points
If your healthcard expires, then your healthcare is not covered. Please keep your demographics up to date with us. This includes your address, contact number, and healthcard. Your healthcard is particularly important as it covers all medical care with OHIP. Appointments will incur a fee of $70 per visit, and telephone assessments may also incur fees.
For same day appointments, please call in the morning when slots are available. Calls that come in in the afternoon are unlikely to have an open slot to use the same day. Online booking is generally for routine issues. If you have an urgent problem, call our office directly for advice.
Management of medication in the community is your responsibility. For regular medication, please request refills/renewals at least 2 weeks ahead of running out. "Poor Planning does not constitute an emergency" and ALL renewal requests are addressed on Thursday/Fridays.
Reviewing results. If you have had a test done, the doctor will call you to discuss any urgent issues. If they are normal, the doctor usually does not call (No News is Good News).
Scans, tests, and labs are the responsibility of the doctor who ordered them. You may have had an investigation done by a specialist. They will know the original reason and context in which the investigation was ordered, and what action is required next. As such they should be the ones to follow up with you. While Dr. Lam may receive a copy, he may not be the correct individual to inform you about the result or next steps.
The clinic is located at 202-1144 Wilson Street West, Ancaster, L9G 3K9. This is the Ancaster Medical Centre and the office is on the second floor of the building.
The clinic is open Monday to Thursdays from 9:00AM to 12:00PM and 1:30PM to 5:00PM.
The clinic is closed Friday through Sunday. Please do not leave any messages on our phone during this time. Rostered FHO patients may call the on-call number out of hours if there is an URGENT issue that cannot wait until Dr. Lam's next clinic day.
You can get an appointment through the following methods.
Call during open hours and leave a message. You must leave your full name, healthcard number with version letters, and return contact number.
Book online! Rostered patients have access to Dr Lam's online booking for direct access. We recommend online booking for predictable routine appointments. You can access booking at: https://dhklmedical.inputhealth.com/
If you have an urgent issue that needs same day attention, please call as early in the day as possible, as same-day slots fill up quickly. By afternoon, most of the slots have been filled, and we cannot guarentee a same day appointment at that time.
Filling forms is a constant part of life (both medical and non-medical). To seek Dr. Lam's help to fill a form, do the following!
Call and leave a message or speak with reception to provide a brief explanation of what the form is for and to book an appointment to discuss it further with Dr. Lam.
Send the form via email to DrLam143@outlook.com for Dr. Lam to review before your appointment. Be sure to fill in all elements that you can before sending. This speeds up the process.
Please allow at least 2-3 weeks for insurance forms to be filled out.
Everything medical should be completed in reasonable time. However certain situations will take priority over others. Some things can wait for a few days to a week to see the doctor, and other things are so important that it should go to the hospital immediately. Consider the following broad guidance when determining what type of issue you have.
ROUTINE: These are issues which can stand being assessed in the next few days or at worse the following week. Medication adjustments, review of bloodwork, form filling. Low level symptoms that have been present for a while, or come and go over this time. We would advise avoiding the use of the On-Call for these.
URGENT: These are issues which are more concerning in their pattern or their severity. New infections symptoms, accidents and injuries, and similar. Each clinic day has a specific number of allotted urgent same day slots. Please call early in the day in order to secure such a spot. Calls later in the day may have to be addressed the following day.
EMERGENCY: These issues need assessment immediately with equipment often held only in hospitals. This includes sudden constant chest pain, significant shortness of breath (unable to speak full sentences), Stroke symptoms (face drooping, arms weak, speech slurred), and injuries where significant fratures may be suspected.
When in doubt, consider giving us a call, and tell us "I'm not sure what to do?" The reception or doctor will guide you on what to do next.
At present, Dr Lam's Family Practice is closed for new patients. We are in the process of rostering existing patients to our new location. There may be an opportunity to roster new patients later this year.
Doctors operate in defined area of expertise. While there are many things that the doctor can do, there are a number of things that we cannot do, either due to lack of training or outside our scope of protected practice. The following are some examples of things that we may not be able to help you with.
Dental problems: Naturally you should see a dentist for anything tooth related. Dentists should be able to write their own prescriptions and provide you with abx if they deem it necessary.
Emotional Support Animal Letters: Animals with certified training have the legal designation of 'Service Animal', and as such are legally allowed into locations where other animals are not. While we understand that our pets provide us emotional support and are a valid form of relaxation and therapy .This does not automatically made them safe animals. Service animals are trained not to react to provocation, not to defecate or urinate unless at designated locations (such as at home), and not to interact with other people or animals while on active duty. In declaring an animal 'safe' this also means shouldering any legal responsibility involved in training, maintaining, and defending an animal should they cause damage, injury, or death. Ultimately these responsibilities lie with the animal's owner and trainer, and not the doctor.
Power of Attorney and Lack of Capacity: All adults 18+ are deemed to have the mental capacity by default. Sometimes in certain specific medical situation that capacity might be affected, leaving the doctor to make a decision in the patient's best interest for that situation. However as we age or in some diseases this mental capacity can be eroded over time affecting overall function and decision making. In order to create a lasting power of attorney you would need to be assessed by an independent capacity assessor who is trained to do these assessments.
There are several preventitive care items that are done regularly for both men and women. These would be important to keep track of and reach out to Dr Lam's clinic when you draw close to the time.
Colon screening (M/F 50-80): stool blood testing (FIT test) every 2 years or colonoscopy every 5-10 years
Mammogram Screening (F 50-75): every 2 years
Cervical screening (PAP), (F25-70): every 3 years
Bone Mineral Density (optional) (M65+, F50+): every 1-5 years depending on results
If you are uncertain if you qualify for these items, give us a call to discuss!