Taking health leave
Licensees may need to take time away from work for health reasons at some point during their career.
Changing to temporarily inactive status
Licensees dealing with a health issue may change their licence status to temporarily inactive (TI). If they paid the annual licence renewal fee, they may be eligible for a waiver or refund of fees.
Licensees who change their status to TI will be identified as temporarily inactive in CPSBC's directory. The reason for the change of status will not be identified.
Licensees who are taking a sabbatical or a leave for humanitarian work are not eligible for TI status.
Practice restrictions
Licensees 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
Licensees 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 licensees
There are specific licence requirements for provisional licensees. Timelines are not automatically extended while a licensee has TI status.
Provisional licensees need to email provisionalcompliance@cpsbc.ca to review requirements before they return to work.
Refunding and waiving licence renewal fees
Licensees 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 licensee with TI status will have their requirement to pay annual fees waived for up to three years. After the three years, the licensee must resume full payment of their annual fees to remain in TI status.