2019-11-28 from cbc.ca
Patients in British Columbia could soon know about every single action taken by professional colleges in response to complaints about health-care workers, rather than just a select few.
That's just one in a substantial list of proposals for reforming B.C.'s system for regulating health professionals, released by a cross-party government committee on Wednesday morning.
The committee is recommending reducing the number of regulatory colleges in B.C. from 20 to five, revamping the makeup of college boards, making the complaint process more transparent and creating a new oversight body that would perform routine audits and systemic reviews of the colleges.
"These changes will help ensure health professions are regulated more thoroughly and transparently, so that they are providing British Columbians the best care when they need it most," Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
He revealed the proposals alongside Liberal health critic Norm Letnick and Green Party health critic Sonia Furstenau, who described the proposals as non-partisan.
The news comes seven months after a critical report from international professional regulation expert Harry Cayton that recommended a complete overhaul of B.C.'s system, charging that the current system lacks transparency and consistency.
"There is a lack of relentless focus on the safety of patients in many but not all of the current colleges. Their governance is insufficiently independent, lacking a competency framework, a way of managing skill mix or clear accountability to the public they serve," Cayton wrote.
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