Hearings

Our Professional Conduct Committee hears all complaints that relate to professional incompetence, unacceptable professional conduct and criminal convictions.  The Committee is made up of two osteopaths and three people, including the chair, who are not osteopaths.  An experienced barrister or solicitor sits with the committee to advise them on legal matters, but is not involved in any decision-making. For more information about what happens at a hearing visit our Attending a hearing page.

If your complaint is upheld, the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) decides what action to take against the osteopath and what sanctions to apply. They can:

• give the osteopath an admonishment which is recorded on their file and can be taken into account if a later complaint is made about them
• impose conditions on how the osteopath works for a set period of time (for example, that they must develop particular areas of their practice and demonstrate that they meet the required standards of practice)
• suspend the osteopath from the Register for a fixed period of time: the osteopath will not be able to practise as an osteopath during this period and may have to complete more training before being allowed to practise again
• remove the osteopath from the Register, so that they will no longer be able to practise as an osteopath.

The PCC is guided in its decision about which sanction to apply by the information in the document Indicative Sanctions Guidance.

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