College Blog
By: Craig Roxborough, Registrar and CEO
Welcome to the first edition of my Registrar’s Blog.
It’s been a busy five months. I’ve had the chance to learn more about physiotherapy, meet with system partners to begin a dialogue around important issues facing the profession and health regulation, and connect with new and long-standing members of the profession.
In this edition of my blog, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on a few of the ways we’re working with and supporting the profession.
Our Approach to Regulation
Right-touch regulation is a common concept in regulatory circles. Simply put, it means using a regulatory approach that is proportionate to the risk being addressed. Not too much, not too little, and leaving room for professionalism to flourish within individuals.
Our strategic plan commits us to implementing a risk-based approach to regulation, and right-touch regulation is helping us do that. In fact, much of our work is already aligned with this philosophy.
Our quality assurance program was restructured to manage risk more efficiently. Rather than having all physiotherapists go through a full assessment, we start with a base-level screening interview and only conduct full assessments when concerns have been identified. This helps us use resources more efficiently, engage with more of the profession, and reduce the burden on those going through the process.
Additionally, many of the concerns we receive at the College are managed through early resolution tactics instead of a full investigation. This allows lower risk concerns to be dealt with directly, engages our full investigatory responsibilities only in areas of greater risk, and avoids putting physiotherapists through unnecessary investigations if issues can be dealt with more directly and efficiently.
Engaging With You
Engagement and Partnership is another pillar of our strategic plan and paramount among the priorities within this commitment is engaging and collaborating with you.
Whether that’s providing a smoother registration and examination experience, supporting and guiding you in your practice over the course of your career, or responding to your feedback as part of our consultation processes, we are committed to working with and serving you while we fulfill our regulatory obligations.
Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with practitioners in our Northern communities as part of the Ontario Physiotherapy Association Physio North conference. It was great to see this community come together to share updates and experiences in support of one another. I also had the chance to meet new cohorts of students at two universities to help introduce them to the College and our role as they kickstart their journey in physiotherapy.
True collaboration means giving space for everyone to be heard and I hope to connect with more of you in the coming months. Keep an eye on our website and social media channels for updates on outreach activities that will allow us to connect more directly.
What’s Next?
Recently I outlined for Council all the ways we have been making progress to embed an equity, diversity, and inclusion lens in our work and decision-making. Whether this is supporting Council and staff education, using plain and accessible language in our communications, or sharing guidance on how to provide safe and inclusive care, we are beginning to make progress in this space. There is, however, much more to be done and you’ll hear more about additional steps we’re taking in the months ahead.
There is so much more I could reflect upon – our new Council dashboard providing insight into our performance, or improvements we’ve made in response to the Ministry of Health’s regulatory assessment framework – but I’ll close simply by saying that I look forward to continuing to work alongside all of you in our shared commitment of the public interest.
Thank you so much for the information.