Taking health leave
Registrants may need to take time away from work for health reasons at some point during their career.
Changing to temporarily inactive status
Registrants dealing with a health issue may change their registration status to temporarily inactive (TI). If they paid the annual licence renewal fee, they may be eligible for a waiver or refund of fees.
Registrants who change their status to TI will be identified as temporarily inactive in the registrant directory. The reason for the change of status will not be identified.
Registrants who are taking a sabbatical or a leave for humanitarian work are not eligible for TI status.
Practice restrictions
Registrants with a TI status are not licensed to practise medicine, including:
- non-clinical medicine
- providing medical advice
- prescribing medications (note prescriptions and refills are not valid)
- any teaching that directs or involves patient care
Handing off access to medical records
Registrants with TI status must ensure appropriate access to medical records and to emergency care and follow-up. Make sure to identify the location of the records.
TI status for provisional registrants
There are specific registration and licensure requirements for provisional registrants. Timelines are not automatically extended while a registrant has TI status.
Provisional registrants need to contact provisionalcompliance@cpsbc.ca to review requirements before they return to work.
Refunding and waiving licence renewal fees
Registrants transitioned to TI status may be eligible for a waiver or a pro-rated refund of their annual licence renewal fees after a period of three months, minus a processing fee.
A registrant with TI status will have their requirement to pay annual fees waived for up to three years. After the three years, the registrant must resume full payment of their annual fees to remain in TI status.