Existing family practice patients at Cambie Village may call reception to book a skin consult with Dr. Ip.
Dr. Ip is accepting external referrals from family physicians for patients with skin related issues. Please see your GP to request a referral to Dr. Ip. Appointment notifications are provided directly to patients and their GPs within 1 to 2 weeks, and current booking times are within 3-4 months.
Are the Physicians able to just call me instead of having an office visit?
Phone calls from our physicians to discuss non-urgent results and concerns in lieu of an office visit should not be expected. Please remember that your doctor has commitments after office hours.
Please book an appointment after any important tests to review your results, unless instructed otherwise. We do our absolute best to ensure that all tests are appropriately reviewed, but electronic and human error can occur. Please allow adequate time for your results to arrive to our office from the lab or hospital.
How do I book a physical exam?
Please inform the staff when booking an appointment for a physical, so that we can prepare you when you come into the office with the appropriate gown and instrument set-up (for the Pap). For women under 40, a Pap smear is the most appropriate. For men and women over 45, a complete physical may be warranted if there are several medical concerns or issues. Please note that MSP does not cover “general screening complete physicals” unless there is a medical indication.
Do you provide prenatal care? I’m newly pregnant – what do I do next?
We perform prenatal exams up to the third trimester and then transfer your care to a health practitioner of your choice: obstetrician, family physician or mid-wife. If you are newly pregnant, please call our office to arrange a visit within 1-2 weeks as there are early screening tests that are available and need to be booked early (including dating ultrasound and bloodwork).
Please see the following link for useful information and resources on pregnancy.
Do you provide routine baby care? I’ve just arrived home with a newborn baby – what do I do next?
We provide routine baby care at the recommended intervals (1 wk, 1 month, 2, 4, 6, 12, and 18 months). We do not perform the early childhood immunizations and can direct you to the vaccination clinic at your closest community health care centre. We do perform the booster vaccines at ages 4-6 years old in the office. We also do routine pediatric exams (recommended yearly at ages 2, 3, and 4 prior to entering kindergarten).
You can now enrol your baby in the Medical Services Plan through the online birth registration service by the BC Vital Statistics Agency at the following link. You must do this as soon as possible after birth to ensure your baby has medical coverage:
Are the Physicians able to just call me instead of having an office visit?
Phone calls from our physicians to discuss non-urgent results and concerns in lieu of an office visit should not be expected. Please remember that your doctor has commitments after office hours.
Are you accepting new patients?
Dr. Ip is accepting external referrals from family physicians for patients with skin related issues. Please see your GP to request a referral to Dr. Ip. Appointment notifications are provided directly to patients and their GPs within 1 to 2 weeks, and current booking times are within 3-4 months.
We are not currently accepting new family practice patients to our wait list.
A new patient consultation visit is required before booking a Pap smear or physical. At this visit, a thorough patient history is collected, so non-urgent medical issues will need to be addressed at a separate visit. After the consultation, your medical chart can be requested from your previous doctor by our office if you wish.
How do I book to complete a form?
Most forms are not covered by MSP and are subject to a fee (set by the Doctors of BC). These include forms for camp, work, disability (including EI), driving, exercise (Par Med X in pregnancy), and parking (SPARC- BC). Please see our page, “Forms” for our fees as well as for some forms that you may need to be completed. Please ensure you notify the receptionist when booking a visit to complete a form.
Where can I park?
We have free parking available along Cambie Street in front of the clinic between West 14th and 15th. We also have free visitor’s parking for up to 2 hours in the Pacifica parkade, located just off of West 14th. Please buzz the clinic (3029) and we will assist you into the parkade.
Do you provide travel advice?
We do not provide any travel advice. Please contact your local travel clinic before leaving for your trip.
We are happy to announce that since expanding the number of physicians at the clinic, we are now usually able to fit-in urgent cases on the same day so please call us first thing in the morning to reserve a space. The receptionist may provide you a red laminate “Fit-in” card and ask that you hand the card to the physician when you enter the exam room. This allows the physician to focus on the urgent problem at hand. Please understand that you will need to book a separate visit for other less urgent issues. This is to allow that physician to stay on time and avoid extended wait times for patients with pre-booked appointments.
The most challenging part of family practice from our end is thoroughly addressing all of your problems in one visit. While we do not believe in enforcing the “one problem per visit” because we believe your time is just as valuable as ours, a regular office visit is 10 minutes (as we are only reimbursed by MSP for 1 problem per visit) and we like to stay on schedule as much as possible. Average wait times can be 15 to 30 minutes and we try our best to avoid longer wait times.
It is most helpful to us if you can present all of your concerns at the beginning of the visit so that we can determine which one is the most important that needs to be addressed urgently. If there is time available we will try to address other issues, but we may need to ask you to return for a follow-up visit. Good medicine takes time.
What makes family medicine unique is that what comes through our doors is unpredictable. So please understand that if your wait time is longer than usual, this is because we needed to spend more time with a sick or complex individual that either needed an urgent fit-in or an extended visit.
We do not provide prescriptions or referrals over the phone. Faxed prescriptions to the pharmacy are subject to a $30 fee. All referrals including for massage and physiotherapy as well as specialists require an office visit. We are unable to share lab results over the phone but we are able to tell you whether a result is urgent or non-urgent.
By registering for My E-health at the lab, you can now access your results on-line as quickly as we can (the exception is sensitive test results processed by the BC Centre for Disease Control such as HIV).
Please understand that these policies are not in place to inconvenience you as a patient, but physicians are not reimbursed for the time to complete paperwork, and there is a tremendous amount of paperwork required on a daily basis for patients that are seen in the office (generally 1-2 hours per day in addition to our clinic time) to complete referrals, review lab results, review imaging, review specialist consults, complete insurance forms and medical legal requests. Therefore we must devote our time to complete paperwork for patients who are seen in the clinic for appointments.
To book an appointment, please call the office during office hours between 8:00 – 4:30 pm on a regular weekday (we are closed from 12-1 for lunch), or between 8:00 – 7:30 pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (we do answer calls between 12-1). Please notify us if you wish to book a pap smear, physical, routine baby check-up or prenatal visit. Regular appointments vary between 10 to 15 minutes, with longer appointments of up to 30 minutes reserved for complete physicals, skin procedures and forms. We are unable to accommodate phone call requests for patients with non-urgent results.
Online bookings are now available for existing patients only at the following link. Please e-mail the office at cambiepractice@gmail.com for your login and password as well as instructions.
Please inform us if you need to complete a form, or report an accident that is an ICBC or Work-safe BC claim. Upon arrival at the clinic, the receptionist will ask that you complete an accident report for the physician before your visit.
If you have other medical issues also to discuss, a separate visit will be needed. Most forms including for school, work, travel, or insurance (including disability) are not covered by MSP and will incur a private fee. Upon arrival at the clinic, the receptionist will ask that you complete an accident report for the physician before your visit.
MSP does not cover “general screening complete physicals”. For females under the age of 40, pap smears are most appropriate. For men and women over 45, a physical may be warranted if there are multiple medical concerns and issues that need to be addressed.
We require 24 hours’ notice for cancellation of an appointment and do NOT accept any cancellations by email. Please phone the office and select option 3 if you wish to cancel an appointment. All missed regular appointments will be charged $40 for a no show fee; missed paps will be charged $50, and missed complete physicals will be charged $80. Missed dermatology specialty appointments will incur a $75 fee.
Many services are not covered by the Medical Services Plan, including: cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen for hand warts (plantar and genital warts are covered) and other benign skin lesions, excision of benign moles, cortisone injections for keloid scars, and most medical forms including sick notes and forms for camp, work, school and immigration. The hepatitis A and B shots are available to purchase at the clinic.