Third

Session, 47th General Assembly

Elizabeth II, 2014

BILL 32

AN ACT TO AMEND THE

REGISTERED NURSES ACT, 2008

Received and Read the First Time .................................................................................................

Second Reading .................................................................................................................................

Committee ..........................................................................................................................................

Third Reading .....................................................................................................................................

Royal Assent ......................................................................................................................................

HONOURABLE

STEVE KENT

Minister of Health and Community Services

Ordered

to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Registered Nurses Act, 2008 to

add regulation making authority

respecting quality assurance;

add quality assurance provisions

to enhance public protection and accountability; and

allow the complaints

authorization committee to refer an allegation to the quality assurance

committee.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE REGISTERED

NURSES ACT, 2008

Analysis

S.11 Amdt.

Regulations

2. S.23 Amdt.

Complaints authorization committee

Ss.35.1 to 35.5 Added

35.1 Quality

assurance

committee

35.2 Registered nurse

shall comply

35.3 Conduct of

review

35.4 Costs

35.5 T ermination of

review

Commencement

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

SNL2008 cR-9.1

as amended

1. Subsection 11(1) of the Registered Nurses Act, 2008 is amended by deleting the word "and"

at the end of subparagraph (j)(viii) and by adding immediately after that

subparagraph the following:

(j.1) the quality assurance program referred to in

section 35.1; and

2. Subsection 23(1) of the Act is amended by

adding immediately after paragraph (

a) the following:

(a.1) refer the allegation to the quality assurance

committee;

3. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 35 the following:

Quality assurance

committee

35.1

(1) The council shall establish a quality assurance committee

that shall have responsibility for, and shall establish and operate, a program

of quality assurance for registered nurses.

(2) The committee may appoint persons registered

as registered nurses under this or another Act, including

an Act of another

province or a territory

of Canada , to act as assessors

or to assist the committee to perform its duties and exercise its powers under

this Act.

(3) The committee and a person appointed under

subsection (2) shall have the powers, privileges and immunities that are

conferred on a commissioner under the Public

Inquiries Act, 2006 .

(4) A person appointed under subsection (2) has

the powers of the committee under paragraphs 35.3(2)(a), (

b) and (c).

Registered nurse

shall comply

35.2 A

registered nurse shall comply with a request or a directive of the committee,

or a person appointed to act on behalf of the committee, in connection with the

conduct of a quality assurance review with respect to the registered nurse or

his or her practice by the committee.

Conduct of review

35.3

(1) The

quality assurance committee may itself initiate a quality assurance review of a

registered nurse or his or her practice or at the request of the Director of

Professional Conduct Review or the complaints authorization committee.

(2) In connection with a quality assurance review,

the quality assurance committee may

(

a) require a registered nurse, or another person

who has information pertaining to or possession of records that relate to the

registered nurse's practice, to provide information, including patient records,

for inspection or review and to permit them to be copied by the committee or a

person appointed by the committee for the purpose;

(

b) order a registered nurse to undergo an

examination, evaluation, assessment or review of his or her professional practices

or capacity or fitness to practice, to the extent and under the circumstances

required by the committee;

(

c) engage in periodic or random reviews or audits

of a registered nurse's performance including the consequential review of

patient records; and

(

d) order a registered nurse to

(

i) obtain counselling, including substance abuse

counselling, until the registered nurse can demonstrate to the committee, or

another body or a person designated by the committee, that a condition related

to the counselling has been overcome,

(ii) obtain medical treatment and authorize a

person participating in the provision of that treatment to report on it to the

committee,

(iii) complete a course of studies or an educational

or training program,

(iv) restrict his or her registered nursing practice,

(

v) obtain supervised clinical experience as directed

by the committee and to the satisfaction of the committee,

(vi) continue his or her registered nursing practice

under conditions the committee may specify, or

(vii) report his or her compliance with an order of

the committee and authorize a person to report to the committee on whether he

or she is complying with an order.

(3) The quality assurance committee may accept the

terms of an agreement entered into by the Director of Professional Conduct Review

and a registered nurse as constituting compliance by the registered nurse with

a requirement or order imposed by the committee on the registered nurse under

subsection (2).

(4) Where a registered nurse fails to comply

(

a) with a requirement or an order under

subsection (2); or

(

b) with an agreement referred to in subsection

(3) within the time required by the committee for compliance,

the committee shall refer the failure to

comply to the Director of Professional Conduct Review who shall refer it to the

complaints authorization committee as an allegation within the meaning of paragraph

18(a).

(5) An action for damages does not lie against a

registered nurse, or another person to whom a request is made, solely because

he or she provides information requested of him or her under paragraph (2)(a).

(6) Where the quality assurance committee or a

person appointed by the committee requires that a registered nurse or another

person provide information under paragraph (2)(a), that information shall be

provided within 7 days of receipt of the request or a different period as

specified in the request.

(7) All records and specific information relating

to the quality assurance program or a review or order under it are confidential.

(8) Paragraph (2)(

a) and subsections (5) and

(6) apply to the Crown.

Costs

35.4 The

costs incurred by a registered nurse in implementing an order under subsection

35.3(2) shall be paid by that registered nurse and shall not be a cost of the

quality assurance committee, the council or the association.

Termination of

review

35.5

(1) Where

the quality assurance committee believes, in the course of or as a result of a

review, that a registered nurse may be guilty of conduct deserving of sanction

within the meaning of

section 18, the

review, if still in progress, shall be terminated, the registered nurse shall

be advised, and the matter shall be referred to the Director of Professional

Conduct Review who shall refer it to the complaints authorization committee to

be dealt with as an allegation.

(2) The quality assurance committee shall provide

all information and documents in its possession relating to the review to the

complaints authorization committee.

(3) An order of the quality assurance committee

issued before it refers a matter to the complaints authorization committee

under subsection (1) remains in effect notwithstanding the referral of the

matter to the complaints authorization committee.

Commencement

4. This Act comes into force on a day to be

proclaimed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

Queen's Printer