May 5, 2007

TORONTO – The McGuinty government is delivering on its commitment to greater safety and accountability for Ontario patients through the proposal of amendments to the Health System Improvements Act, Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced today.

“The Health System Improvements Act is about making health care safer and more accountable to the public. We have been listening to Ontarians during the consultation period and from that we have developed changes that will make the legislation even stronger,” Smitherman said. “Our proposed changes would ensure that patients have easier access to information to make informed choices about their health care providers.”

Through the amendments it has tabled, the government will be proposing changes to existing provisions of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 including:

• Posting on a health regulatory college’s website:
• findings of malpractice and professional negligence against one of its members
• all matters referred to its discipline committee
• every suspension or revocation of a member’s certificate of registration

• Where a health care professional has been found guilty of any offence, he or she will be required to report this to their regulatory college.  If the offence relates to the health care professional’s suitability to practise, the health regulatory college would then make the subsequent finding of professional misconduct public on its website.

• Ensuring patients have access to information on discipline and incapacity decision a regulatory college makes by requiring the posting of decision summaries on the college’s website.  This information would no longer be automatically removed from the web site after six years.  

In addition to these changes, the McGuinty government is announcing that it intends to move forward with a regulation to require hospitals to inform patients when errors occur as well as hospital-level reporting of critical patient safety measures to the public.  In partnership with leaders in the hospital sector, including the Ontario Hospital Association, the government will work to establish a standard approach to this public reporting.

Today’s initiative is part of the McGuinty government’s plan for innovation in public health care, building a system that delivers on three priorities – keeping Ontarians healthy, reducing wait times and providing better access to doctors and nurses.

For further information :

Members of the general public :
416-327-4327, or 1-866-532-3161

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