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Bill 253, Support for Adults in Need of Assistance Act, 2021

Gélinas, France

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Bill 253 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill enacts the Support for Adults in Need of Assistance

Act, 2021 . The Act requires regulated health professionals to report to

a board of health if they have reasonable suspicion that an individual who is

16 years of age or older is being abused or neglected. The failure to report is

an offence.

The

Act requires a board of health to ensure that each report it receives is

assessed and verified within a certain time period. The Act also permits board

of health employees certain rights of entry into premises to carry out these

requirements.

The

Act provides that every board of health shall establish a team that will review

cases and recommend a support and assistance plan for individuals in need. The

review team must include at least one legally qualified medical practitioner.

For each case, employees and the chair of the review team have reporting

obligations to the medical officer of health of a board of health. The medical

officer of health shall ensure that the number of reports received by a board

of health, the number of cases for which the reported information was verified,

the reasons for which reports were made and the outcomes of the reports are

published on the board of health’s website every six months.

Bill 253 2021

Act respecting reporting of adults in need of assistance and the provision of

assistance to those adults

Her

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

this Act,

“adult”

means an individual who is 16 years or older; (“adulte”)

“board

of health” has the same meaning as in the Health

Protection and Promotion Act ; (“conseil de santé”)

“regulated

health professional” means a member of a College of a health profession or

group of health professions established or continued under

an Act named in

Schedule 1 to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 .

(“membre d’une profession de la santé réglementée”)

Duty

to report adult in need of assistance

(1) Despite

the provisions of any other Act, if a regulated health professional has a reasonable

suspicion that an adult is being abused or neglected, the regulated health

professional shall immediately report the suspicion and the information on

which it is based to a board of health.

Ongoing

duty to report

(2) A

regulated health professional who has additional suspicions that an adult is

being abused or neglected shall make a further report under subsection (1) even

if the regulated health professional has made previous reports with respect to

the same adult.

Report

directly to board of health

(3) A

regulated health professional who has a duty to report a matter under

subsection (1) or (2) shall make the report directly to the board of health and

shall not rely on any other person to report on the regulated health

professional’s behalf.

Duty

to report under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act,

(4) Nothing

in this

section affects the duty to report a suspicion under

section 125 of the

Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 ,

including, for greater certainty, in the case of a regulated health

professional who may have made a report under this

section or an employee of a

board of health with knowledge of any information reported by a regulated

health professional.

Offence

(5) A

person who has a duty to report a matter under subsection (1) or (2) is guilty

of an offence if,

(

a) the

person fails to report the suspicion under subsection (1) or (2); and

(

b) the

information on which the suspicion was based was obtained in the course of the person’s

professional or official duties.

Penalty

(6) A

person convicted of an offence under subsection (5) is liable to a fine of not

more than $5,000.

Section

overrides privilege; protection from liability

(7) Subject

to subsection (8), this

section applies even if the information reported may be

confidential or privileged, and no action for making the report shall be

instituted against a regulated health professional who made the report unless

the regulated health professional acts maliciously or without reasonable

grounds for suspicion.

Solicitor-client

privilege

(8) Nothing

in this

section abrogates any privilege that may exist between a lawyer and the

lawyer’s client.

Conflict

(9) This

section prevails despite anything in the Personal Health

Information Protection Act, 2004 .

Board

of health to assess and verify report

(1) A

board of health that receives a report under

section 2 that an adult is or may

be being abused or neglected shall ensure that an assessment and verification

of the reported information is carried out by an employee of the board of

health or of another board of health.

Deadline

(2) The

assessment and verification must be carried out within the following applicable

deadline:

1. 48

hours, if the reported information suggests that the adult is in immediate need

of assistance.

2. 72

hours, if the reported information suggests that the adult is in a vulnerable

situation but may not be in immediate need of assistance.

3. 120

hours, in all other cases.

Protection

from liability

(3) No

action or other proceeding shall be instituted against an employee or officer of

a board of health, acting in good faith, for

an act done in the execution or intended

execution of the duty imposed on the board of health by subsection (1) or for

an alleged neglect or default of that duty.

Rights

of entry

(4) Sections

41 to 43 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act apply

with necessary modifications in respect of the assessment and verification of

information.

Same

(5) For

the purpose of subsection (4), subsection 41 (2) of the Health

Protection and Promotion Act is deemed to mention, as a purpose,

carrying out the assessment and verifying the information.

Penalty

for obstruction

(6) Any

person who contravenes subsection 42 (1) of the Health

Protection and Promotion Act , as it applies by application of subsection

(4), is guilty of an offence and, upon conviction, is liable to a fine of not

more than $5,000.

Review

team

(1) Every

board of health shall establish a review team that includes at least one

legally qualified medical practitioner.

Chair

(2) The

members of a review team shall choose a chair from among themselves.

Duty

of team

(3) If

an employee of a board of health verifies information reported under

section 2,

the employee of a board of health shall refer the matter to a review team,

along with the employee’s assessment.

Recommendations

(4) The

review team or a panel of at least three of its members, designated by the

chair, shall,

(

a) review

the case; and

(

b) recommend

to the board of health a support and assistance plan for the adult.

Incapable

adult

(5) If

the review team or panel of the review team has reason to believe that the

adult may be incapable, the support and assistance plan shall include consultation

with any substitute decision-maker of the adult and, if necessary in order to

assist the adult, consultation with the Public Guardian and Trustee respecting the

need to assess the adult’s capacity or to make a court application to appoint a

guardian of property or a guardian of the person.

Disclosure

to team permitted

(6) Despite

the provisions of any other Act, a person may disclose to a review team or to

any of its members information reasonably required for a review under

subsection (4).

Section

overrides privilege; protection from liability

(7) Subsection

(6) applies although the information disclosed may be confidential or

privileged and no action for disclosing the information shall be instituted

against a person who acts in accordance with subsection (6), unless the person

acts maliciously or without reasonable grounds.

Internal

and public reporting

(1) An

employee of a board of health who receives a report under

section 2 shall advise

the board of health’s medical officer of health that such a report has been

received.

Same

(2) An

employee of a board of health who carries out an assessment and verification of

the reported information under

section 3 shall report to the medical officer of

health of the board of health as to whether or not the report has been referred

to a review team.

Same

(3) The

chair of a review team established under

section 4 shall ensure that the

outcome of each report referred to the review team is reported to the medical

officer of health of the board of health.

Public

information

(4) The

medical officer of health of a board of health shall ensure that the following

information is published on the website of the board of health for every six-month

period:

1. The

number of reports received by the board of health under this Act and the number

of those cases for which the information reported was verified.

2. A

general description of the reasons for which the reports were made and the

outcomes of the reports.

Same

(5) In

publishing information under subsection (4), the board of health shall ensure

that no personal information within the meaning of the Freedom

of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is disclosed.

Commencement

This Act comes into force on the first anniversary of the day it receives Royal

Assent.

Short

title

The

short title of this Act is the Support for Adults in

Need of Assistance Act, 2021 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

February 23, 2021

First Reading

Vote

Carried

Debates and Progress

First Reading

February 23, 2021

Committee

Second Reading

Committee

Third Reading

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