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When a complaint is referred to an investigation, an Investigator who does not know the individuals involved in the complaint carries out the investigation process to find out the details/facts about the conduct alleged in the complaint.
The investigator may interview:
- the complainant,
- the investigated member and
- the witnesses.
When a complaint goes to an investigation, the practitioner will receive:
- Notice that an investigation will be conducted
- The name of the investigator
- Updates to confirm the investigation is still in progress. Please note, during the investigation no details of findings can be provided only progress updates.
Once the investigation is complete, the Investigator prepares an objective report detailing the information discovered and collected in the investigation process. The investigation report is submitted to the Complaints Director.
After reviewing the report, the Complaints Director must decide if there is sufficient evidence of unprofessional conduct. This means addressing the following questions:
- Did the alleged incident(s) occur?
- Was the practitioner responsible for the incident(s)?
- What factors contributed to the situation(s)?
- Did the actions of the practitioner fall under the definition of unprofessional conduct?
The Complaints Director then decides to refer the matter to a hearing or dismiss the complaint.
The investigation report is created using confidential and often very private information from individuals involved in the complaints. To respect the privacy of all individuals and the investigation process, the College does not release the investigation report to the complainant or the regulated member who is the subject of the complaint.
We make every effort to complete a thorough investigation in a timely fashion; however, there are many individuals involved in the process and the time to complete an investigation is variable and dependent on many factors, including availability.