Advocacy: Our comments on the Cayton Report

Doctors of BC has provided feedback to a Steering Committee established by the provincial government to consider recommendations in the Cayton Report that call for significant legislative changes to ensure health regulatory bodies are acting in the public interest.

In our submission, we strongly encouraged the Steering Committee to consult further as its work progresses. It has stated that it may adopt a phased approach to consultation and we are hopeful that this will occur. This is important because the report contains two distinct sets of proposals – changes to the Health Professions Act itself as well as wider changes that would require new legislation. As we do not know what direction the Steering Committee may take, it is difficult to provide comprehensive feedback at this time.

In terms of our initial feedback on the proposals themselves, we raised the following key issues in our submission:

• We do not support a single code of ethics for all health professions. We question the feasibility of this given the wide variety of health professions, the differing nature of the work they do and their relationships with patients.

• If a separate professional registration and adjudication agency is established, it will need to ensure that inquiry committees/disciplinary panels contain the professional and clinical expertise required to determine whether standards of clinical competence have been met.

• Regarding the relationship between Colleges and professional associations, we note that there may still be instances where lines of communication between Doctors of BC and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC will be necessary and appropriate. It may therefore be prudent to build a formalized conduit between the organizations into legislation or regulations.

• We would like to understand the cost implications of developing an entirely new oversight body for health profession regulation versus expanding the role of the existing Health Professions Review Board.

• The report’s recommendations fall into two categories. The first involves changes to the existing Health Professions Act and the second is much wider regulatory reform. We recommend that the Steering Committee prioritize the first category of changes and only consider wider reform if those changes prove to be ineffective. 

The Doctors of BC response was approved by the Board of Directors at its June meeting. The full Board Report is available here.

We will keep members updated on future developments. If you have questions or comments, email View Email Addresscommunications@doctorsofbc.ca.