Jump To:Can my complaint be anonymous?
You cannot make an anonymous complaint. Registrants must be provided with the opportunity to respond fully to the complaint.
How and when will my personal information be shared during the complaints and appeal processes?
Your personal information (such as your telephone number and email address) and your personal health information (such as your pharmacy and medical records) may be provided to the registrant during the investigation.
If you are filing a complaint on behalf of someone else, their personal information and personal health information may also be provided to the registrant. The registrant is required to keep this information confidential.
In most cases, you or the registrant can request a review of the outcome of the complaint investigation. As part of this review by the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB), we are required to provide all documents that were part of the investigation.
These documents may contain your personal information and your personal health information. If you had filed a complaint on behalf of someone else, their personal information and personal health information may also be included in the documents provided to HPARB.
Hearings and reviews by HPARB are open to the public. HPARB decisions are published on CanLii with the full names of complainants and pharmacy professionals unless HPARB orders otherwise.
Can the College direct a pharmacy professional to provide a specific treatment or service?
College staff cannot direct a registrant to provide a specific treatment or service. For example, the College cannot direct a pharmacy to dispense medication or refund a fee.
Can I receive compensation, refunds, or a change to pharmacy fees through the complaints process?
The College does not have jurisdiction to award damages or require a pharmacy professional to provide financial compensation. As well, the College cannot direct how pharmacy fees are set. If you are seeking compensation for harm caused, you may wish to speak with a lawyer.
Do I need a lawyer?
You do not need a lawyer. However, you can get legal advice or retain a lawyer to help you in the process if you want to.
Is there a time limit to filing a complaint?
There is no time limit to filing a complaint. However, the College recommends you file your complaint as soon as possible so both parties are able to recall the events in question.
How is a complaint investigated?
A College staff member conducts an impartial and confidential investigation. Their goal is to gather all the relevant information.
The College may review medical records or seek information from the complainant (or the patient if another party has filed a complaint on their behalf), the pharmacy professional, and other healthcare professionals who may have pertinent information to share.
Can I talk to the owner/manager/pharmacist/technician about the complaint directly?
Before filing a complaint, we encourage you to talk directly with your pharmacy professional and/or the manager of the pharmacy to address your concern, if you feel comfortable doing so.
Once you’ve made a complaint, any conversation you have with pharmacy staff should stay focused on your everyday care. We request that you and the registrant do not discuss the complaint further.
What happens if I change my mind after I file a complaint?
At any point after a complaint is filed, you can request to withdraw your complaint against the pharmacy professional. All withdrawal requests are reviewed by the Registrar who determines whether it is in the public interest to grant the withdrawal of the complaint. If the Registrar is of the view that it is in the public interest to continue with the complaint investigation, the withdrawal request will be denied, the investigation will be completed, and the results of the investigation will be reviewed by the ICRC.
Who decides the result of the investigation?
The Inquiries, Complaints, and Reports Committee (ICRC) decides the result of the investigation. This is a screening committee that is comprised of publicly appointed members of the College’s Board of Directors and professional committee appointees. Note that College staff are not members of the ICRC and therefore they are not involved in ICRC’s decision-making process.
What can the ICRC do?
There are a number of options available to a panel of the ICRC. Depending on the nature of the complaint, the panel can:
- Take no action against the pharmacy professional
- Provide advice/recommendations to the pharmacy professional
- Issue a caution to the pharmacy professional
- Require the pharmacy professional to complete a Specified Continuing Education or Remediation Program (SCERP)
- Refer the pharmacy professional to another panel of the ICRC for health inquiries for investigation of possible mental or physical health concerns that might interfere with the pharmacy professional’s ability to practice
- Refer the pharmacy professional and specified allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence to the Discipline Committee
Note that under legislation, the ICRC cannot award the complainant compensation, damages, or refunds of any kind, and/ or request or direct an apology from the pharmacy professional.
Watch this whiteboard video to learn more about the options available to the ICRC.
Are the ICRC’s decision and/or reasons for its decision public information?
The College posts information about concerns that are relevant to a pharmacy professional’s suitability to practice. The results of an investigation are public information when pharmacy professionals are ordered to complete a specified continuing education and remediation program (SCERP), receive an oral caution from the ICRC, or when specified allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence against the pharmacy professional are referred to the Discipline Committee. Information about the SCERP, oral caution or referral to the Discipline Committee is public information and available on the Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional tool (our public register).
Note that complaints are confidential and while the results of investigations remain on the pharmacy professional’s file, some investigation results are not available to the public if they are not relevant to the professional’s suitability to practice. You can learn more about the public register and what information is made public and not made public on our “About Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional” page.
What can I do if I don’t agree with the ICRC’s decision and reasons for the decision?
Either party has the right to appeal the decision and reasons for the decision to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB). The only exception to this is if the decision is a referral to the Discipline Committee or a referral to another panel of the ICRC to conduct health inquiries.
Can I use the outcome of my complaint for a civil lawsuit?
The decision of the ICRC is not admissible in a civil proceeding pursuant to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991.
If the pharmacy professional is referred to the Discipline Committee, does the complainant become a party to the disciplinary proceeding?
Complainants are not parties to such disciplinary proceedings. They do not direct the prosecution or make submissions separate from the College’s submissions. However, it is possible that the complainant may be called as a witness in the proceedings.
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