Dialogue Volume 14 Issue 4 2018 | Page 17

REPORTS FROM COUNCIL Independent Legal Advice Program The College will indefinitely be extending a pilot project to provide independent legal advice (ILA) to complainants/witnesses involved in discipline hearings in which the allegations relate to sexual misconduct. To date, seven witnesses have taken ad- vantage of the ILA program, which offers a maximum of three hours of legal advice. The College had paid $6,679 for the program. Participants stated that the ILA program was “extremely helpful” for gaining an under- standing of what to expect in terms of how legal proceedings work. Non-binary Gender Option A non-binary gender field will be added to the College’s public register. This will allow the College to keep in step with a societal trend. College Policies to be Revamped We are redesigning College policies to be more clear and concise with a focus on enhancing their use and readability for physicians. The aim is to transition existing policies to the new approach by the end of 2019. The new approach consists of the following: • A move to a numbered/bulleted list format instead of the current long-form narrative approach; • Clear articulation of required expectations and those that are advisable; • A clear statement of the purpose of the policy and definition of key terms (i.e., ‘must’ and ‘advised’). Using the new formatting to convey ex- pectations could see policies be significantly reduced in length. The College will also critically evaluate the use of those advised expectations on a go-for- ward basis. In particular, we will aim to limit their use where possible or to relocate them in a companion document. In fact, it is anticipat- ed that companion documents will continue to be produced where necessary to: provide advice regarding discharging specific expectations, capture rationale/context where it is needed, and outline best practices or recommendations for conduct where appropriate to do so outside of the policy itself. Council also voted to rescind two policies, with the rationale that they state expectations already established in law, other College poli- cies, or clinical standards. The two policies are: 1. A  nabolic Steroids, Substances and Methods Prohibited in Sport 2. Fetal Ultrasound for Non-Medical Reasons ISSUE 4, 2018 DIALOGUE 17