Fiona Browne

Fiona has been at the GOsC for 15 years and prior to that she worked for the General Medical Council and in postgraduate medical education and training. She also has experience of being a Board member in a charity for patients and in local government standards and ethics. 

What do you do in your role

I work with Matthew (Chief Exec) and Sheleen (Head of Fitness to Practise) to support the implementation of our Council strategy of strengthening trust, championing inclusivity and embracing innovation. As well as this, I contribute to leadership of the organisation, ensuring that we all strive together to protect patients and support osteopaths. I have a specific responsibility which is supporting my colleagues Steven and Liz to deliver our education, standards, policy research, communications, engagement and insights functions along with various cross-organisational projects and external collaborations.

What opportunities does your role provide?

I really enjoy opportunities to learn from and support osteopaths and to help make a contribution to patient safety and patient care and patient partnership in variety of different ways.

Typical work might include meeting with osteopaths to do interactive CPD sessions on topics such as boundaries, or communication and consent, helping people with complex ethical queries and how to apply our standards to help them make decisions, data analysis, working with colleagues to support our Council and Committee to make decisions on matters on of education and standards or research. Work also includes gathering insight and research with osteopaths, patients/patient organisations and collaboration with osteopathic organisations to help us collectively understand and respond to strategic issues, general problem solving and learning from others outside the sector and other regulators, all sorts of different things!

We have recently had an abstract accepted at the Professional Standards Authority Conference in October alongside Julie Stone to discuss how best to support health professionals to establish and maintain professional boundaries which is an essential part of implementing our standards. It is also exciting because it gives us a chance to raise the profile of osteopathy among the health sector and demonstrate our contributions to debates that impact on all health professionals.

What is it like working for GOSC?

GOsC prides itself on support, inclusion, diversity and high performance. I know this from personal experience. I developed lupus 9 years ago which left me hospitalised for a significant period of time and a wheelchair user. Throughout this time, GOsC supported me and once I had a diagnosis, medicines to suppress my immune system and I was able to walk again, GOsC welcomed me back to work and enabled me to ‘come back strong’. Since that time, I have had flares significantly impacting my health, but GOsC support me to work flexibly to give me the best chance of staying well whilst also ensuring that I deliver on my work. I hope that this experience helps me to be a bit more humble, inclusive, patient, kind and supportive both personally and professionally, recognising that we all carry our own stories and we are all committed to doing our best.

I feel fortunate to work alongside kind, talented individuals who are committed to helping osteopaths and supporting great patient care and making a difference to people in a positive way.

What would it surprise people to know about you?

I was born in the West Country but my Mum was born in Scotland and my Dad was born in in India, coming to the UK in his teens. Family and friends matter to me and I love spending time with them. I enjoy the freedom and privilege of being able to run (slowly) and most Saturday mornings I can be found at Mile End parkrun!