Complaints

When Albertans visit their pharmacy, they should always expect safe, responsible, and professional pharmacy services. For the most part, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are able to meet these expectations and provide quality care to their patients. However, there are times when pharmacy teams fail to meet the expectations of their patients, other regulated health professionals, other interested parties, or the college. In some cases, individuals will contact ACP about their concerns, which are divided into two categories:

• Issues of public concern – issues that are resolved by ACP through direct collaboration with the complainant and the respondent.
• Formal complaints – more serious matters that warrant formal investigation. Examples include complaints about alleged misconduct that is intentional, has the potential to cause public harm, is clearly outside the range of accepted standards, or demonstrates an incapacity to practise. ACP has responsibility and authority under the Health Professions Act (HPA) to enforce ethical conduct and standards to protect the public’s health and well-being.

Where possible, ACP uses a quality improvement approach to resolve concerns, with a focus on identifying and removing risk, and changing behaviours to minimize the probability of a future occurrence. ACP applies principles such as objectivity, fairness, timeliness, thoroughness, and transparency to resolve complaints and concerns received about regulated members and pharmacy operations.