The Situation
In late 2014, Anne participated in a College practice assessment. As a result of some concerns about her practice, the Quality Assurance Committee directed her to participate in a Specified Continuing Education and Remediation Program (SCERP). She was given a six-month deadline to submit a number of materials to the College outlined in her SCERP.
Anne missed the submission deadline. The following day the College received an email from her indicating that she would send in the materials by the end of that day. The promised documents never arrived.
Over the course of the next four months the College sent multiple emails, letters, and left voicemails. The emails and voicemails were not answered and the letters were unclaimed and eventually returned to the College.
Because she would not comply with the order made by the Quality Assurance Committee and failed to respond to numerous attempts to contact her, in the fall of 2015, Anne was referred to the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC) for an investigation.
All physiotherapists who are being investigated are invited to explain their side of the story to the Committee. In her written submission, Anne stated that “maximum stress” and an “element of depression” brought on by personal illness and the illnesses of loved ones prevented her from fulfilling the terms of the SCERP and replying to College communications. In addition, she explained that she had not received the College letters because she had been staying with a family member and her mail was being held at her home.
The Consequences
The Committee considered the time that Anne had initially been given to complete the SCERP, her unfulfilled promise to send the documents and the efforts that College staff had made to contact her.
While the Committee had sympathy for Anne’s unfortunate personal circumstances, they found that this did not absolve her of her duty to satisfy her professional responsibilities as a physiotherapist.
In addition to her failure to complete the SCERP requirements on time, the ICRC noted that Anne had a pattern in her history with the College that was relevant to her ability to meet the obligations of self-regulation.
In 2007, Anne was suspended for non-payment of registration fees and did not complete the Jurisprudence Module by the deadline. In 2013, she again failed to pay her registration fees on time.
Self-regulation depends on co-operation by all physiotherapists. The Committee was concerned that Anne’s record suggested that she did not understand the need to take her routine professional obligations seriously. This may have contributed to her failure to take appropriate steps in response to her need for an extension of her SCERP obligations.
The Committee ordered Anne appear before the College’s Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee to receive a caution. The fact that this caution was required and took place will appear on the Public Register.
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