Communicating With Your Care Team by Email

At LHSC we are committed to protecting the privacy of our patients.

During your visit with us, you will be asked to provide your personal email address as another option for the care team to communicate with you.

Things you should know about email communication

Relating to Your Care:
  1. Your Care Team will not use email to communicate sensitive information
  2. Your Care team will not convey emergency advice or treatment. If you are experiencing medical distress, please visit an emergency department or call 911.
  3. Your Care team may make decisions about your care based on information provided to them via email.
  4. Your Care Team will print email communication relating to your care and place a copy on your health record.
Regarding the risks of this type of communication:
  1. Email is not a secure or confidential form of communication. As with all email, there is risk that your health information could be intercepted or unintentionally disclosed.
  2. Email messages may be delayed for technical reasons or may inadvertently be filtered and sent to your spam or trash folder.
  3. Although [organization] devices have anti-virus software, viruses and malware may be unintentionally transmitted by email.
Other considerations:
  1. Your email address may be used to register you for videoconferencing appointments with your care team. This will be discussed with you prior to your videoconference.
  2. Depending on the care team, email may not be checked frequently. Please do not use email for questions or concerns that are time-sensitive or urgent in nature.

You are not obligated to provide your email address and you may stop communication via email at any time for any reason. Your care team also has the right to end email communication with you at any time for any reason.

If you have already provided your email address, but would like to opt-out of receiving future email communication, please contact your care team.

If you have any additional questions or concerns related to privacy and confidentiality, please contact the Privacy Office at: