What’s Public (and what’s not) About Pharmacy Professionals

The College provides information about pharmacy professionals to help patients make informed healthcare decisions. Our mandate is to protect the public, and we believe that the public should have information to help them decide who and where they want to seek pharmacy care and services from.

Who can I find on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional?

All pharmacy professionals who are qualified to practice pharmacy in Ontario must register with the College. The College posts information about all current pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, students and interns who are registered to practice in Ontario. Each person has their own profile that stays on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional until they resign, have their registration cancelled for failing to pay their annual fee, or the College has been notified of their death.

We keep the profiles for people who have resigned, been cancelled or passed away for three years. If the College had concerns about a pharmacy professional at any point during their career, their profile stays on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional indefinitely.

How up to date is the information?

We collect information about pharmacy professionals when they first register with the College. That information is updated regularly by a pharmacy professional when they complete their annual registrant renewal or notify us of a change. Information about discipline findings, conditions to practice or other concern-related data listed below is updated as quickly as possible, or once the information has been verified.

What information is public?

Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional contains a wide variety of information about pharmacy professionals. Here’s a summary of what you’ll find on each tab:

General

  • Full name, and any previous or preferred names the person uses
  • All known current workplaces (practice locations) with contact information
  • Type of pharmacy professional (pharmacist, pharmacy technician, student, intern)
  • Practice status, one of the following. Visit the Glossary of Terms for definitions of each practice status.
    • Provides patient care (with no conditions)
    • Provides patient care (with conditions)
    • Does not provide patient care
    • Not entitled to practise
  • For pharmacists, which part of the register they are in (Part A or B). Learn more about Part A and Part B of the Register
  • If the pharmacist is a Designated Manager
  • If the pharmacist is authorized to sign for controlled substances orders
  • Gender
  • OCP Registration number
  • Language(s) that the pharmacy professional can provide care in (self-reported)
  • If applicable, any health professional corporations or corporations in which the pharmacy professional is a director or shareholder
    • The link on the corporation name will take you to a profile for the corporation, including the names of any directors of the corporation who are registrants of the College (e.g. pharmacists or pharmacy technicians) and any other pharmacies owned by that corporation.

Registration History

  • Date the pharmacy professional first registered with the College
  • Type(s) of pharmacy professional the person has been throughout their career (history as a student or intern is available for anyone who registered after October 20, 2014)
  • Any history of suspension, cancellation for failing to pay a College fee, resignation, revocation or reinstatement, including a start and end date (or anticipated end date)
  • A notation if the College is aware that the pharmacy professional is deceased
  • A list of other jurisdictions where the pharmacy professional is registered with a pharmacy regulatory authority (self-reported)
  • Visit the Glossary of Terms for definitions of the terms on the Registration History tab

Academic & Training History

  • Date the pharmacy professional completed their pharmacy education
  • Name and country of the institution where the pharmacy professional completed their pharmacy education
  • Other training that the pharmacy professional is required to have registered with the College

Concerns

The College posts information about concerns that are relevant to a pharmacy professional’s suitability to practice. If there are concerns about a pharmacy professional, a yellow circle with an exclamation mark inside will appear on their Concerns tab.

Information on the concerns tab is presented in alphabetical order by type, with the latest information first. Use the Glossary of Terms for more details on the terms below.

Possible concerns include (listed in alphabetical order):

  • Bail, Custody & Release Conditions: If a pharmacy professional has any current custody or release conditions in provincial or federal offence processes that the College knows about, they will be posted on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional in accordance with the relevant legislation and College By-Laws.
  • Conditions to Practise: If there are concerns about a pharmacy professional, the College may impose conditions on their right to practise. The College also posts a history of a regsistrant’s previous conditions to practise, with a status that indicates if it has been completed. Occasionally, a pharmacy professional will enter into an undertaking with the College; these are also listed under Conditions to Practise. Use the Glossary of Terms for definitions of the terms under Conditions to Practise. This applies to all terms, conditions and limitations issued after June 4, 2009.
  • Complaints & Reports: If a pharmacy professional was the subject of a complaint or report investigation that resulted in one of the following outcomes, it will be posted on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional. This applies to complaints and reports received after April 1, 2015. Potential outcomes include:
    • Oral Caution: An oral caution is ordered when the College’s Inquiries, Complaints & Reports Committee (ICRC) has a significant concern about conduct or practice that can have a direct impact on patient care, safety or the public interest if it is not addressed. An oral caution is a face-to-face discussion between the registrant and the Committee, to review the changes the registrant will make to help avoid a similar incident from occurring in the future.
    • Remedial Training: Remedial training is ordered when the ICRC requires the registrant to complete a specified continuing education and remediation program (SCERP). The ICRC may order a SCERP if it identifies a serious care or conduct concern and believes that the registrant must update their skills.
    • If a complaint outcome has been appealed, this will be noted.
    • Note: If the pharmacy professional was referred to the Discipline Committee as a result of the investigation, the information will appear under the Discipline heading

 

  • Discipline: If a pharmacy professional is having (or had) interactions with the College’s Discipline Committee, information about it is available on their Concerns tab. This applies to all Discipline decisions after December 31, 1999.
    • If a pharmacy professional is awaiting a discipline hearing due to allegations of professional or proprietary misconduct, it will be noted as pending on their Concerns tab. If available, there may also be a date for an upcoming hearing and a PDF of the Notice of Hearing document detailing the allegations and hearing information.
    • If a pharmacy professional has been found guilty of professional or proprietary misconduct, and is currently suspended or has conditions to practise, this is also noted on their Concerns tab. There will also be a record of when the hearing was held, when the decision was made, a summary of the hearing with details about any penalties, and a link to the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLii) for the full text of the hearing.
    • If a pharmacy professional was previously found guilty of professional or proprietary misconduct but has no remaining suspensions or conditions on their right to practise, a history of the interaction remains on their Concerns profile until their 100th birthday. There will be a record of when the hearing was held, when the decision was made, a summary of the hearing with details about any penalties, and a link to the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLii) for the full text of the hearing. For hearings that were held before June 2003, summaries were originally published in a print-only magazine and are available upon request by emailing communications@ocpinfo.com
    • If a finding of professional or proprietary misconduct has been appealed by the pharmacy professional, this will be noted.
    • If the Discipline Committee made no finding or was unable to make their case against the pharmacy professional, the record of the allegations, hearing and outcome may not be available on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional.
    • If a pharmacy professional’s certificate of registration was revoked and they have made an application to the Discipline Committee to be reinstated, this information is posted under the Discipline section. Learn more about the process for reinstatement after revocation.
  • Fitness to Practise: The Fitness to Practise Committee can find a pharmacy professional to be incapacitated if they are currently suffering from a physical or mental condition (e.g. substance use disorder, mental health disorder) and require either a suspension from practice or terms, conditions or limitations on their practice in order to maintain public safety. The College posts only basic information about current findings of incapacity. Fitness to Practise hearings are not public, and therefore information about them is not posted unless a finding of incapacity is made. For the purpose of respecting the Human Rights Code, information about previous findings of incapacity is removed when the registrant has demonstrated they are no longer incapacitated.
  • Federal or Provincial Charges: If a pharmacy professional has federal or provincial charges that the College knows about, they will be posted on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional in accordance with the relevant legislation and College By-Laws. This applies to charges made after April 1, 2015.
  • Federal or Provincial Findings of Guilt: If a pharmacy professional has federal or provincial findings of guilt that the College knows about, they will be posted on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional in accordance with the relevant legislation and College By-Laws. This applies to findings of guilt made after April 1, 2015.
  • Professional Findings Outside Ontario: If a pharmacy professional has a finding of professional misconduct or incompetence from a body that governs pharmacists or pharmacy technicians outside Ontario, and the College knows about it, it will be posted on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional. It will include the date the finding was made, a brief summary of the facts, and details about the penalty.
What information is not public?

While we do share a lot of information about pharmacy professionals, not everything is available on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional. We believe that the information we provide should be relevant, enhance public confidence, and be balanced with fairness and respect for each pharmacy professional’s privacy. The following information is not included on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional.

  • Email address
  • Home mailing address
  • Date of birth
  • Areas of specialty, designations or certifications except when required by the College for the delivery of specific services (Example: injection training)
  • Quality assurance results
  • Settlements of malpractice or professional negligence civil lawsuits
  • The “fact of” any type of an investigation
  • The outcome of an investigation that finds no concerns with the pharmacy professional’s care or conduct, or finds concerns of a minor nature that post little risk to the public, including “take no action” and “advice/recommendation” outcomes
  • Previous findings of incapacity made by the Fitness to Practise Committee. For the purpose of respecting the Human Rights Code, only current findings of incapacity are posted on Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional
  • Findings that have been successfully appealed through the Health Professionals Appeal and Review Board
  • As well, under the provisions in the Health Professions Procedural Code Section 23 and the College’s policy, the Registrar may refuse to disclose or post information if they have reasonable grounds to believe that:
    • Disclosing the information may jeopardize the safety of an individual; or
    • The information is obsolete and no longer relevant to the registrant’s suitability to practice.
Support

For support please email communications@ocpinfo.com