The Professional Standards Authority publishes the report of its review of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, Canada.
Background
We were invited by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario to undertake a review of its performance as a regulator. The College wished to benchmark its performance against other regulators, to confirm where it was performing well and to identify any areas for improvement. The Standards of Good Regulation were adapted to reflect the particular context and statutory responsibilities of regulators in Ontario, and focused the review on the areas of guidance and standards, registration, and complaints handling. The review was carried out between February and May 2013. In the course of the review we analysed a range of documentary evidence, talked to members of staff of the College and members of the Council, and interviewed external stakeholders. We also undertook some random sampling of case files.
Our report is sets out our assessment of the College’s performance against each of the standards in turn. We adapted the standards so that they were relevant to the College’s statutory context and responsibilities. We concluded that the College is an effective regulator, strongly focused on patient safety and the public interest, and that it meets or exceeds all of the standards. We have identified and described those areas where we feel the College demonstrates good practice, and we have also set out a number of recommendations for further work and improvement.
This was a welcome opportunity to study a regulator in Ontario, given the long standing international interest in the Ontario model, and it has been our first such exercise in Canada. There is value to the international community of regulators from learning from each other and we are grateful to the RCDSO for it contribution to this by commissioning this report. With this objective in mind, in addition to our assessment of the College’s performance against the standards, we have also included a general description of the arrangements for the regulation of health professionals in Ontario.