Members of Council, as well as non-council members of the College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Ontario are involved in achieving our goals through seven "statutory" Committees. Every committee, with the exception of the Executive Committee, is comprised of a combination of professional Council members, public Council members and non-council members.

For a listing of committee members click here - (43K)

All Committees would like to hear about your ideas, suggestions and concerns about medical laboratories in Ontario. Please contact us.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee acts on behalf of Council between meetings and ensures that the objectives of the College are being met. This committee reviews cases of mandatory reports by employers who have suspended, limited, terminated or are intending to terminate a member. It also considers and decides how to deal with reports and cases of members who might be incapacitated as a result of substance abuse or a mental health or physical disability.

Registration Committee

The process of issuing a certificate of registration to medical laboratory technologists to practise is foremost in maintaining high professional standards. The requirements for obtaining a certificate of registration are set out in the regulations and applied in an equitable and consistent manner for all applicants, foreign and domestic.

Patient Relations Committee

The Patient Relations Committee ensures the members have an effective program in place to manage patient relationships. This committee is responsible for publishing guidelines leading to effective patient relations in many areas, including the prevention of professional misconduct of a sexual nature. The Patient Relations Committee administers a fund for therapy and counseling for eligible persons who were sexually abused by an MLT.

Complaints Committee

Complaints received by the College about an MLT's conduct or actions are taken very seriously. Every complaint is investigated in a comprehensive, fair and effective manner.

The Complaints Committee carefully reviews all of the information gathered for any complaint and then makes a decision on how to handle the complaint.

A letter is sent to both the complainant and the medical laboratory technologist involved in the complaint, informing them of the decision and the reasons for that decision and what action will be taken.

Fitness to Practise Committee

The mandate of this Committee is to determine if a member is suffering from a physical or mental disorder that would affect or could affect, his or her practice.

In these cases, the Registrar usually conducts an inquiry into a MLT's condition and reports the findings to the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee may then appoint a Board of Inquiry to further investigate the case. Based on the information gathered by the Board, the Executive Committee may refer the MLT to the Fitness to Practise Committee which will hold a hearing to review all the information. Terms, conditions and limitations may be attached to a certificate of registration or temporary suspension as the committee attempts to deal with the member in a non-punitive way.

Discipline Committee

The Discipline Committee holds open hearings to consider allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence referred by the Executive Committee or the Complaints Committee and, on a finding of guilt, determines the penalty to be imposed.

Penalties may include reprimand, fine, revocation or suspension of a MLT's certificate of registration, or conditions or limitations attached to the certificate.

Committee decisions are published in the College's newsletter, FOCUS, which is distributed to all members.

Quality Assurance Committee

The Quality Assurance Committee develops and maintains a quality assurance program to ensure the quality of practice for medical laboratory technologists and to promote continuing competence among members.

Ontario Regulation 207/94 amended to O. Reg 553/05, Part IV of the Medical Laboratory Technology Act, 1991, states:

The Committee shall administer the quality assurance program, which shall include the following components:

1. Professional Portfolio
2. Practice Review
3. Technical competence evaluation
4. Remediation of behaviour and remarks of a sexual nature by a member towards a patient that are not of a nature appropriate to the service provided.

The key aim of every program is to take a proactive approach in avoiding preventable errors in laboratories across Ontario in tandem with the Laboratory Licensing Inspection Service and QMP-LS.