Fifteen years of excellence: a shared achievement

Within a busy, small organisation finding time to stop, pause and reflect can be a challenge when there are so many things to do. But my team and I recognise the importance of doing just that because we know reflecting offers insights and value to our work, in exactly the same way that it does for osteopaths reflecting on their practice and the CPD they have done.

Finding out that the General Osteopathic Council has once again met all 18 Standards of Good Regulation set by the body that oversees health and social care regulation, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) – marking our fifteenth consecutive year of achieving this standard – opened up another opportunity for reflection.

This milestone isn't just about ticking boxes or meeting bureaucratic requirements. It represents something far more meaningful: a testament to collaboration and just how valuable effective regulation can be for the public we protect and the osteopaths we strive to support.

But here's what I want to emphasise most strongly – this achievement isn't ours alone. It belongs to every osteopath who has engaged with our work, especially our consultations, every patient who has shared their experiences, every educator who has worked with us to improve standards, and every partner organisation who has taken the time to help us understand how we can do better.

As our Chair, Jo Clift, noted when the results were announced, we want to thank ‘the staff team, Council and its committees, and our stakeholders for their contribution to this success’. This recognition acknowledges what GOsC colleagues and I have always appreciated – that effective regulation is a collaborative endeavour.

When the PSA assess us against their standards, they're not just looking at our policies and procedures. They're examining how we engage with our stakeholders and how we listen and how we respond to feedback. The 18 Standards cover our core regulatory functions and include a specific focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, and ensuring that relevant learning from one part of our business is applied to others. In short, the PSA Standards measure the strength of our partnerships.

Your contributions have been invaluable in helping us meet these standards, and you’ve helped us model our organisational values, which you can see below.

When an independent body like the PSA confirms that we're meeting the highest regulatory standards, it reinforces public confidence in osteopathy as a profession and in our role as its regulator. It demonstrates that the regulatory framework is working as intended and supports our ongoing efforts to strengthen trust.

The fact that we've maintained this unblemished record for fifteen years running means that patients and osteopaths can be confident that the GOsC is a high-performing and effective regulator.

But as we've always emphasised, we don't take this achievement for granted. We are committed to continuous improvement which means we will keep seeking your input, keep listening to your experiences, and keep working to ensure regulation evolves alongside the profession and the healthcare landscape.

You have all played a part in this achievement. You've helped us demonstrate that regulation, at its best, is a collaborative endeavour that strengthens rather than constrains, that protects while enabling, and that builds trust with osteopaths and patients.

Thank you from me, and from all my colleagues at the GOsC, for all of the work that you do.