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Vancouver Upper Limb Centre Vancouver Upper Limb Centre Vancouver Upper Limb Centre
"We are dedicated to improving access to care throughout the province for patients with upper extremity conditions."
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Physician Information and Referrals

Patient Self Referral:

Appointments to see the physicians generally require a physician referral. If you are not covered by the British Columbia Medical Services Plan and desire a private consultation you may contact the office of the physician you wish to see.
You may request an appointment to the office of:

Dr. Thomas Goetz: goetzmoa@gmail.com

If you are sending an e-mail or leaving a message please include:
» First name
» Last name
» Contact phone numbers
» Reason for consultation request

New Referrals:

Physician referral requests should be sent to the office via fax. Referrals are reviewed and prioritized by the surgeon. This is done to try to avoid missing urgent and emergent referrals and to identify inappropriate referrals.

Because of the high number of referrals and the varying degree of urgency, the referrals are triaged. It is recommended that referring physicians complete the relevant referral sheet to ensure adequate information is provided to assess the consult and optimize the chance for rapid referral of the patient.

Some referrals may be felt by the surgeon to be inappropriate. This may be because:

» The patient may not have had adequate non-surgical treatment,

» The problem is essentially non-surgical,
» The problem is best dealt with by another surgeon/discipline.

If the referral is unlikely to be seen in a timely fashion a referral rejection notice will be returned to the physician. If the referring physician feels that their patient needs more urgent therapy they may page Dr. Goetz through the switchboard at St. Paul's Hospital by calling (604) 682-2344.

» General Referral Form
» Shoulder Referral Form

Please open the pdf in Adobe Acrobat and not in your web browser. This is a form that can be filled out online but only if it is opened in the Adobe Acrobat program or equivalent.

Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE) Program:

VULC is also a part of the Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE) program. Physicians may call 604-696-2131 or 1-877-696-2131 Monday to Friday 0800-1700 for upper extremity orthopaedic advice.

When calling RACE, please provide the following information to the orthopaedic specialist:
» Full name of patient
» Patient Health Card number
» Patient date of birth
» Your billing number

After your call, please fill out the VULC - RACE Follow Up Form and email or fax to the surgeon on RACE call.
Please note: Sending the referral to the individual physician may lead to delays as even clearly indicated RACE referrals may be sent for re-triage in error.

» RACE Follow Up Form

Please open the pdf in Adobe Acrobat and not in your web browser. This is a form that can be filled out online but only if it is opened in the Adobe Acrobat program or equivalent.

Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise (RACE) (Physicians Only):
http://www.raceconnect.ca/

Hand and Upper Extremity Consult Line (HUEC Line):

Coming soon.