Health care organizations must follow this Regulation in their patient relations process and set up complaint-handling, record-keeping, delegate oversight, and public contact-information practices.
Application and interpretation 1. (1) Every health care organization shall comply with the requirements of this Regulation as part of its patient relations process. (2) For greater certainty, references in this Regulation to, (a) Revoked: O. Reg. 238/16, s. 1. (b) “organization” mean the relevant health care organization; and (c) “patient”, with respect to a patient complaint, include a former patient and a person who has or had the authority to consent to treatment on behalf of a patient or former patient in accordance with the Health Care Consent Act, 1996. O. Reg. 238/16, s. 1. Complaint process 2. (1) The health care organization shall have in place processes for receiving, reviewing and attempting to resolve expeditiously complaints from patients and caregivers of patients. (2) The health care organization shall engage patients and their caregivers in designing, reviewing and maintaining the processes referred to in subsection (1). (3) The health care organization shall have in place practices for recording, monitoring and analyzing data relating to patient and caregiver complaints that provide for, at a minimum, with respect to every complaint, (a) except in the case of an anonymous complaint, the name of the complainant and, where a complainant is a caregiver, the name of the patient and the caregiver’s relationship with the patient; (b) the subject matter of the complaint; (c) the date when the complaint was received; and (d) whether the complaint is resolved to the satisfaction of the patient or caregiver and, (i) if the complaint is so resolved, how it is resolved and on what date, or (ii) if the complaint is not so resolved, the manner in which and the date on which the health care organization forms the view that it cannot be resolved, which date must be after the health care organization has determined that all options under its complaint resolutions process have been exhausted. Complainant to be kept informed 3. Where a complaint has been made by a patient or a caregiver of a patient, the organization shall ensure that the complainant is informed of the status of the review of the complaint, (a) within five days from the day the complaint is received by the organization; and (b) whenever the complainant reasonably requests further information. Patient relations process delegate, etc. 4. (1) The health care organization shall designate an individual as its patient relations process delegate. (2) The patient relations process delegate is responsible for overseeing the organization’s patient relations process. (3) The organization shall ensure that there are processes and procedures in place to enable the delegate to meet the responsibility under subsection (2). (4) The health care organization shall make contact information for the patient relations delegate available to the public. (5) The patient relations delegate shall also, at least twice a year, present aggregate data relating to the patient relations process at meetings of the organization’s quality committee, and the organization shall ensure that there are processes and procedures in place to enable the delegate to meet this responsibility. 5. Omitted (provides for coming into force of provisions of this Regulation).