A report to the Minister of Health on the investigation of the application for the regulation of paramedics under The Regulated Health Professions Act

The relevant provisions of the RHPA to establish the Council, enabling unregulated groups to apply to be regulated, enabling the applications of those groups to be received and considered by the Council, and other related provisions, were proclaimed into force effective June 1, 2011, in advance of the enactment of the provisions of the entire RHPA. [...] The over-arching principles for regulation of a group under the RHPA are: (1) the profession delivers health care as defined by the RHPA, (2) the provision of the health care concerned poses a risk of harm to the public; and (3) regulation under the RHPA is the most appropriate means to regulate the profession. [...] The Council’s Examination of the Application The Council reviewed the Application, all relevant information provided by Participants and the additional information requested from the Applicant in relation to each of the criteria set out in section 159 of the RHPA and any other matters that the Council considered as relevant. [...] The Council did not assign equal weight to each of the criterion; some of the criteria are related to the public interest, such as risk of harm, and others are related to the feasibility and appropriateness of regulation, such as the likelihood of membership compliance. [...] To take into account the risk posed by the environment or surroundings would constitute a fundamental shift in one of the objectives of the RHPA: to place the interests of patients and the public at the centre of the regulatory process.12 (2).