Employer Responsibilities under the RHPA

Duty to Cooperate with College Investigations

The Regulated Health Professions Act confers powers of investigation on the College for the purposes of investigating reports or complaints of misconduct, incompetence or incapacity against a Dietitian. The Act also requires the Quality Assurance Program of the College to conduct practice assessments of dietitians to ensure continuing competence for public protection. Employers must cooperate with both College investigations and practice assessments of a Registered Dietitian. Refusal to cooperate is an offense. Furthermore, it is professional misconduct for a dietitian to fail to cooperate with the College during an investigation or a practice assessment.

Investigating a Complaint or Report
The College will hire an investigator to investigate a complaint or report against a dietitian. The investigator will gather information such as clinical records or other relevant documents and will conduct interviews with the Complainant or the person who has made a report, witnesses and the dietitian to clarify issues.

Investigators have "all the powers of a commission under Part II of the Public Inquiries Act, which states,

"No one can obstruct an investigator, withhold or conceal information relevant to an investigation". This means that investigators may enter and search a member's workplace at any reasonable time and, if necessary, may obtain a search warrant to search a place where information relevant to the investigation may be located. They have the authority to copy all documents or objects relevant to a case. If it is not possible to have copies, they may remove originals as evidence for the purposes of the investigation and return them at a later date. (RHPA 1991, c 18, Sched 2, s76 to 78)." The Health Professions Procedural Code of the Regulated Health Professions Act 1991, c 18, Sched 2, s76 to 78) further describes the powers of a College appointed investigator.