The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) was established by the Osteopaths Act 1993 to ‘provide for the regulation of the profession of osteopathy’.
Our work includes:
The GOsC’s Standard of Proficiency sets out the standards that practising osteopaths must meet. These include knowledge of the safe and competent practice of osteopathy, professional ethics and after-care evaluation.
Part of our Fitness to Practise guidance is a strict Code of Practice, which is updated regularly to reflect changes in healthcare standards and regulation. The Code covers a wide range of areas including the osteopath’s duty of care, relationships with patients, obtaining consent, examining patients and patients’ rights. Failure to comply with the Code may result in Fitness to Practise proceedings being brought against an osteopath.
The standards and Code of Practice are currently being revised. For further information see our Consultations page.
The title ‘osteopath’ is protected by law, and only those included on the UK Statutory Register are entitled to practise. There are 4,261 osteopaths on the Register; 2,063 women and 2,198 men (as at 7 April 2010). Unregistered practice is a criminal offence. The GOsC maintains the Register, which provides detailed information about qualified osteopaths and is freely available to the public either online, via the GOsC’s telephone information service on 020 7357 6655 ext 242, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, or by email to info@osteopathy.org.uk.
Osteopaths who have qualified in the UK or overseas must meet certain requirements in order to be registered with the GOsC. For more information about these, see Becoming an osteopath.
Every year, osteopaths are required to renew their licence to practise. As part of this process the GOsC checks that they have current professional indemnity insurance, remain in good health and of good character, and have met the mandatory requirements of continuing professional development.
The GOsC is currently developing a scheme for Revalidation, to be introduced in 2013, which will be linked to the renewal of registration process.
Osteopathy courses must be accredited as Recognised Qualification courses by the GOsC, and they are validated by UK universities. The Council has worked in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, the British Osteopathic Association and the osteopathic educational institutions to develop the Osteopathy Benchmark Statement, which outlines the exacting standards required for osteopathic training.
We work closely with the educational institutions where osteopaths are trained to develop best practice in osteopathic education, training and care.
The GOsC is the body that patients can turn to if they have concerns or complaints about osteopathic care. If a patient is concerned about the competence or the professional conduct of an osteopath, and has been unable to resolve the issue satisfactorily with the osteopath, we will advise on the next steps to take under a formal complaints procedure.
Each year, we produce a formal report outlining the work we have done in the preceding year. These are available in the Annual Reports section.
We welcome comments and feedback about this website and the information on it. If you have any comments or if you have not been able to find the information you want in this section or on the website as a whole, please contact us by using the form on the Contact us page or by emailing info@osteopathy.org.uk.
