In Alberta, the health professions are regulated under the Health Professions Act (HPA). This piece of legislation acts as a legal framework by which the health professions or ‘colleges’ operate and regulate its activity. Self-regulated colleges are governed by a board of directors or council made up of elected members of the profession along with government-appointed members.
The college’s role, as outlined in the HPA is clear. It:
a. must carry out its activities and govern its regulated members in a manner that protects and serves the public interest,
b. must provide direction to and regulate the practice of the regulated profession by its regulated members,
c. must establish, maintain and enforce standards for registration and of continuing competence and standards of practice of the regulated profession,
d. must establish, maintain and enforce a code of ethics,
e. carry on the activities of the college and perform other duties and functions by the exercise of the powers conferred by this Act, and
f. may approve programs of study and education courses for the purposes of registration requirements.
In 2001, the enactment of the HPA called into force the oversight responsibility of the Ombudsman with the health professions colleges. Any person may make a complaint about a regulatory college in accordance with the Ombudsman Act.
Health college decision-makers looking for resources to better apply standards of administrative fairness within their organization may find our Fundamentals of a Complaints Mechanism and our Internal Complaint Mechanism Checklist to be of use.
For more information about how the Ombudsman determines administrative fairness, please visit our Administrative Fairness Guidelines page.
Resources
Outlining principles rooted in administrative law that explain how fair decisions are made
Providing public organizations a complaints process self-assessment check list and a model complaints policy.
Encouraging public organizations to internally assess their programs and evaluate the fairness of their systems, policies and practices.
Related Case Studies
January 26, 2022
When decisions are made affecting Albertans, they expect to understand why the decisions were made and where to go to have their specific concerns addressed if they disagree. Jeff Brown* reported he and his wife experienced unprofessionalism by a health practitioner that ultimately led to a refusal of medical treatment. When he complained to the…
November 18, 2013
“Must” or “may”? Is a professional college required to forward an application for review to a college’s complaint review committee? This was an issue that emerged during an investigation of a complaint about a health professions college. An individual complained to the Ombudsman that his concerns about a health professional were dismissed, and a request…
November 18, 2013
The dismissal of a complaint of unprofessional conduct by a professional health college’s complaints review committee was found to be administratively unfair. The complaint stemmed from a patient pursuing a claim of malpractice and negligence against a member of the college. An Ombudsman investigation found the decision did not outline how the complaints review committee…