As Ontario’s medical regulator, our role is to serve in the public interest within the province’s health-care system. To properly fulfill this role, we need the public’s help. Public, patient and caregiver participation is absolutely critical to our work — from setting standards and writing policies that shape the conduct and competency standards of health-care providers, to determining how much information should be available about your doctor on our public register.

Whether you’re a patient or caregiver with recent or frequent interactions with Ontario’s health-care system, or someone simply interested in improving health regulation, we want to hear from you. There are many ways you can get involved in the CPSO’s work.

Participate in open consultations

The CPSO runs public consultations on an ongoing basis, seeking feedback on draft health-care policies, quality assurance standards, and much more. We need this feedback to come from not only doctors and other health-care professionals, but from patients and the general public. That’s where you come in.

Our consultations typically include participating in an online survey and/or sharing your opinions on a specific aspect of a draft health-care policy on an online discussion board. While discussion-board posts require you to indicate whether you are a doctor or a member of the public, all comments are anonymous. We take the feedback we receive and use it to help shape the next draft of the policy or standard in question.

To find out which consultations we’re currently running and to share your feedback, visit our main consultation page.

Join our Citizen Advisory Group

The Citizen Advisory Group helps bring the patient voice and perspective to health-care regulation in Ontario. Members are patients and caregivers from across the province who provide essential feedback on standards of practice, policies and priorities directed at the public. The Group supports many of Ontario’s health regulatory colleges who want to include patients in their decision-making.

We’re always looking for new members, and we need a broad range of patients and caregivers to share their stories and provide their insights to help shape our work.

To learn more or to apply to be a member, visit the Citizen Advisory Group website.

Apply to sit on our governing Council

The CPSO Council is comprised of nearly 50% of members of the public, appointed by the provincial government to provide a public perspective on the issues and trends that shape the work we do. These public members come from a variety of fields and backgrounds: business and finance, academia, public policy and administration, and much more.

We also require that a certain number of public members sit on our statutory committees, including the Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal, and our Quality Assurance and Registration committees.

To learn more about how you can apply to be appointed to our Council, visit the public appointments page on the Government of Ontario website.

Contact us

If you have any questions or comments about our public engagement efforts, we want to hear from you. Send us an email at [email protected].