When You Are the Subject of a Complaint

If you are a registrant who has been notified that you are the subject of a complaint, you should:

• Review the complaints process so that you understand how the complaint will proceed.
• Respond promptly to all communications from the College, including providing information the College requests, and fully co-operate throughout the investigation.
• Consider if you want to retain legal counsel to advise you on the process and your response to the complaint.
• Refrain from discussing the matter to be investigated with the complainant after you receive notification that a complaint has been filed against you.
• Ensure that your contact information with the College is up to date (this can be verified in My Account).

Here’s some other important information you should know:

• The College’s Investigators and Complaints and Resolutions Officers must remain impartial.
• Decisions regarding the outcome of a complaint are made by panels of the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee, not College staff.
• Some outcomes of a complaint or investigation are posted on the College’s public register. The results of an investigation are public information when pharmacy professionals are ordered to complete a specified continuing education and remediation program, receive an oral caution from the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee, or when specified allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence against the pharmacy professional are referred to the Discipline Committee.
• In most cases, you or the complainant can request a review of the outcome of the complaint investigation by the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board. Reviews by HPARB are open to the public. HPARB decisions are published on CanLII with the full names of complainants and registrants unless HPARB orders otherwise.