Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to introduce Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Health and Social Services Professions Act. The current Health and Social Services Professions Act is an umbrella statute that will regulate a number of different health and social services professions. Before the act can come into force, amendments are required to address some oversights that were missed during the original drafting. These amendments were not identified until the department began developing the first profession-specific regulations.
The amendments addressing the oversights include:
● requiring professionals to maintain continuing competency records;
● authorizing the registrar to inspect, examine, or audit records to ensure a professional is fulfilling their continuing competency requirements; and
● authorizing the Minister to approve items such as exams, programs, and guidelines for each profession.
Since statutes cannot be repealed or revised by regulations, Bill 18 also proposes consequential amendments on behalf of the first two profession-specific regulations for emergency medical services providers and psychologists. Since a bill was required to address oversights and consequential amendments, the department took advantage of this opportunity to expand and clarify existing registers in the act and the information that should be disclosed to the public in relation to a complaints and discipline process.
These proposed amendments include:
● clarifying the information that must be included in the registrar's public register, including when the registrar places conditions on, suspends, or cancels a licence;
● expanding the information a complaints officer must record in their register to include the entire complaints and discipline process; and
● identifying what complaints and discipline information the complaints officer must direct the registrar to record in the public register.
Finally, amendments are proposed to restrict the use, collection, disclosure, and communication of personal health information throughout the act to ensure sensitive information is protected. Mr. Chair, I am happy to answer any questions Members may have.