News

At its Board meeting on March 25, the Ontario College of Pharmacists, the registering and regulating body for the province’s pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies, carefully considered feedback gathered directly from thousands of pharmacy professionals during a series of virtual town halls and an anonymous survey administered by the College over the past four weeks. In response, the Board has adopted the following position: OCP has zero tolerance for business practices that compromise the ability…

To better understand registrant experiences, the College is scheduling a series of virtual town halls to gather insights directly from registrants. Town halls will be managed, hosted and moderated by an independent third-party facilitator. A representative from OCP leadership will be present at each session to solicit and collect input from participants. Participants will have the ability to maintain complete anonymity while sharing their experiences and perspectives, and various feedback options will be available, including anonymous chat.…

The College has heard from pharmacy professionals about feeling pressured to perform certain services or meet targets that might conflict with their professional and ethical duties to patients. To better understand these experiences, the College is inviting all pharmacy professionals to complete a brief survey to share their feedback by March 12, 2024. This survey is part of our work on one of our key goals: ensuring that pharmacy professionals' health, well-being, and adherence to standards and ethical…

Updated January 5, 2024, for clarification under item #3. The College is aware of Ontario pharmacies offering (advertising, promoting) and/or dispensing compounded semaglutide preparations to patients due to an ongoing shortage of the Health Canada approved manufactured product, semaglutide (Ozempic®). The following guidance focuses on the pharmacist’s obligations to keep patient care and safety at the forefront when dealing with current Ozempic® shortages. 1. Compounding is a high-risk activity to be considered after other options…

The Ministry of Health has posted proposed regulatory amendments to the College’s Registration and Quality Assurance Regulations under the Pharmacy Act. The proposed regulation amendments flow from the College’s original submission to the government in 2018 following an open consultation and subsequent Board approval. Pharmacy professionals and system partners can comment on these proposed changes through Ontario’s Regulatory Registry. The deadline to provide feedback is January 12, 2024. If approved, the major changes under the…

The Ontario government has filed regulations that, effective immediately, authorize pharmacy professionals to provide further vaccination and treatment options for COVID-19, influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). This follows government approval of some of the proposed regulatory amendments submitted by the College following a 60-day public consultation earlier this year, and a subsequent consultation by the Ministry of Health. These regulations recognize that Ontario’s healthcare system continues to see additional pressures that are impacting patient access to care. By expanding the scope…

Community pharmacies across Ontario have begun to post prominent signage indicating the use of a time-delayed safe to secure narcotics, marking an important milestone in a province-wide mandate launched earlier this year by the Ontario College of Pharmacists to help deter pharmacy robberies.   In March, the College’s Board of Directors unanimously approved updated policies requiring all community pharmacies to install a time-delayed safe to secure narcotics, a move strongly supported by the Ontario Association of…

College by-laws approved by the OCP Board of Directors in 2020 set an annual increase in fees to be tied to the percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index (Ontario all items) as of September 30th of each year. The intention is to reduce the need for large increases in fees in any single year by keeping up with inflation. The Consumer Price Index as of September 30, 2023 was 3.6%. Therefore, annual fees…

At its September 19th meeting, the Board of Directors discussed categories of minor ailments that were recommended by the Scope of Practice Advisory Group (SPAG) following a request from the Minister of Health to explore the addition of further minor ailments, including those that may require additional scope of practice expansions to support safe and effective prescribing. Board members were presented with the rationale for the ailments and therapies under each category and considerations for…

The College is seeking pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to join its working group for the entry-to-practice Jurisprudence, Ethics and Professionalism exam. The College is also recruiting pharmacists for the Knowledge Assessment Question Writers, Reviewers and Standard Setters Working Group, as well as pharmacy technicians for the Self-Assessment Question Writers and Reviewers Working Group. We welcome applications from pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who have the knowledge, skills and experience to contribute to the development and review of…