OUR COMPLAINTS PROCESS
continued from the front page
veterinarians and members of the public get the information and support they need in a compassionate manner .
The Bad
The College ’ s antiquated legislation provides many barriers to improving the complaints process at the College .
Our current timelines to process a complaint are not good . There are currently over 500 open complaints at the College . In the current model , the College has the capacity to dispose of about 216 complaints per year . This obviously creates a lengthy process that causes stress for all involved . The backlog of complaints continues to grow faster than our ability to process them .
The easy answer to address this would be to train more Complaints Committee members to increase the volume of complaints that can be processed . Unfortunately , the Veterinarians Act limits the number of individuals on the Committee to 10 . This is a huge barrier to process improvement as our Committee members are already working at high capacity .
Another problem with our current system is that it does not allow us to easily dispose of no risk or low risk complaints . The College is often asked why we are investigating a matter where there are clearly no concerns . The answer is that we do not have the authority to choose which matters to investigate or not . All matters must go through an investigation and be addressed by our Complaints Committee . In an improved process , we also envision the authority to use mediation to address low risk cases where appropriate . Mediation is currently voluntary and both parties must agree to its use .
What now ?
The College continues to pursue legislative reform to improve the process . We are also exploring changes that may assist in improving the process until new legislation can be achieved . These include :
– A focus on compassion
– An ongoing shift to electronic communication and document exchange
– Administrative changes to reduce the number of times documents are sent out to parties in the process ; all documents will be provided before the Committee review takes place
– Seeking opportunities to change how information is presented to increase the number of complaints that the Committee can review at a meeting without increasing the burden on our Committee members
EXPLORING THE NEW ETHICS HUB
The public trusts veterinarians to make sound , ethical decisions . The Ethics Resource Hub is an online resource to assist veterinarians in building their skills in ethical decision-making .
You may wish to begin exploring the hub with the ethics e-learning module . The module includes information on professional ethics ; the Code of Ethics ; and a model for ethical decision-making .
www . cvo . org / hub
AVAILABLE ONLINE
Veterinary Facility Accreditation Emblem
The College ’ s facility accreditation emblem and window decal demonstrate to the public your clinic ’ s commitment to veterinary health care and meeting the accreditation requirements .
The emblem may be displayed on your facility ’ s website , and on social media sites . The emblem is also available as a window decal . More than 1,700 decals have been circulated to veterinary facilities .
The social media and website emblem and window decal are available upon request by contacting the College or submit your request online at cvo . org / getemblem .
Hot topics explored in learning modules
The College offers learning modules to assist veterinarians in understanding requirements and expectations . Learning modules are available as educational resources for veterinarians and their teams for improving communication skills and also to support medical recordkeeping .
For further information , review the Guide for a suggested selfdirected learning plan to use the module series .
www . cvo . org / learning-modules
THE COLLEGE OF VETERINARIANS OF ONTARIO |
College of Veterinarians of Ontario 2106 Gordon Street , Guelph , ON N1L 1G6 Phone : ( 519 ) 824-5600 | Toll-free : 1-800-424-2856 Fax : ( 519 ) 824-6497 | Toll-free fax : 1-888-662-9479 inquiries @ cvo . org |
Editor : Jan Robinson
Assistant to the Editor : Kim Huson
Publication mail agreement number : 40583010
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College Connection is the official publication of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario , informing members on regulatory issues , with the expectation that members will govern themselves accordingly . College Connection is charged with the responsibility of providing comprehensive , accurate and defensible information . |
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cvo . org |