Saskatchewan · Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals

How to Respond to an SCPP Complaint

Saskatchewan regulates pharmacy differently from its neighbour. Where Alberta funnels complaints through a single Complaints Director, Saskatchewan uses two separate committees — one to investigate, one to judge. And it can charge not just you, but your pharmacy manager and the corporate proprietor, over the same event. Knowing who decides what, and who is exposed, is the first step in responding well.

Who regulates you, and under what law

Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies in Saskatchewan are regulated by the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals (SCPP) under The Pharmacy and Pharmacy Disciplines Act (the Act) and the SCPP Regulatory Bylaws.

Saskatchewan uses its own vocabulary, and it matters. You are a licensed pharmacist or licensed pharmacy technician; what is at stake is your licence. And the Act defines three distinct things you may be charged with:

• Professional misconduct — conduct falling below the profession’s standards;
• Professional incompetence — a lack of the knowledge, skill or judgment required;
• Proprietary misconduct — a charge that can be laid against the proprietor of a pharmacy, separately from the individual professional.

That third category is distinctive. In Saskatchewan a single event at a pharmacy can generate charges against the pharmacist, against the pharmacy manager, and against the corporate proprietor — and published SCPP decisions routinely name all three together.

Two committees, not one officer

This is the structural feature that sets Saskatchewan apart from Alberta. Alberta routes complaints through a single Complaints Director. Saskatchewan uses two separate committees:

• The Complaints Committee receives and investigates the complaint and decides how it should be resolved;
• The Discipline Committee is a separate body that holds the formal hearing if the matter is charged.

Both are made up of elected pharmacists, elected pharmacy technicians, and public members. Keeping the investigating body and the adjudicating body separate is a deliberate fairness feature — but it also means the Complaints Committee’s decision on where your file goes is the pivotal early moment.

From concern to formal complaint

Not everything becomes a formal complaint. When SCPP receives an inquiry, staff first decide whether the concern is something the College regulates, and whether it can be dealt with by a phone call or a letter of concern to the pharmacy professional or manager. More serious concerns are invited to be lodged as a formal complaint.

A formal complaint must be in writing and contain specific details — the events, the prescriptions involved, any witnesses. SCPP only accepts anonymous complaints in exceptional circumstances; ordinarily the matter proceeds on a named, documented basis, and if it goes to discipline, there is full disclosure of all information gathered.

What the Complaints Committee can decide

Once it has the information it needs, the Complaints Committee makes one of three decisions:

• Refer the matter to the Discipline Committee for a formal hearing;
• Provide educational guidance — through a cautionary letter or a letter of guidance — where the conduct appears not to comply with the College’s legislation, standards and guidelines;
• Take no further action — where the conduct appears compliant, or there is insufficient evidence, or the matter is outside the College’s jurisdiction.

Your first week

1. Get legal advice and notify your liability insurer before you write anything.
2. Diarise every deadline and ask for an extension early if you need one.
3. Preserve the record exactly as it stands — the dispensing record, the prescription, the patient profile. Never alter or backdate a pharmacy record after a complaint arrives; falsifying records is a serious, separate matter.
4. If you are the pharmacy manager or proprietor, get advice on your separate exposure — proprietary misconduct is charged against the business, and the manager assumes duties as a director of the corporation under the Act.

SCPP handles personal health information under The Health Information Protection Act (HIPA); disclosure of records to the College for its regulatory function is lawful. Withholding or delaying is not.

This article is general information for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians regulated by the Saskatchewan College of Pharmacy Professionals and does not constitute legal advice. Regulatory processes and the law change, and every case turns on its own facts. If you are the subject of a complaint or investigation, obtain advice from a lawyer experienced in professional regulation, and notify your professional liability insurer, before you respond. Last updated July 14, 2026.