NCOR: A fond farewell and a warm welcome

In her nine years as Director for NCOR, Dawn has made many valuable contributions to the GOsC, and to the profession, and it has been my pleasure to work alongside, and importantly, to learn from Dawn.

Her insight, leadership and experience will be missed and I would very much like to thank Dawn for her hard work, dedication and commitment to collaborative working. Dawn has led by example, through actions and not just words.

Two key highlights

Dawn has achieved so much and while it was difficult to narrow these down, I wanted to highlight two key examples.

The first is the work on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), alongside Carol Fawkes, Senior Researcher at NCOR, which helps osteopaths demonstrate the quality of care they provide to patients, but also how this can link to the GOsC CPD scheme. The second highlight is one of the most influential pieces of work GOsC benefits from and that is the annual NCOR Concerns and Complaints report.

It is worth reflecting on the impact this report has had on our regulatory work since its development and implementation by Dawn and the GOsC team back in 2013. It was the first project of its kind in the regulatory landscape to collect data about concerns beyond those held by the regulator, and it has been instrumental in informing the development of our CPD scheme, other policies and communications all of which aim to drive up standards.

It is significant that concerns have continued to reduce over the period since the data has been collected. It has been suggested that this is because the report enables us to tackle areas of concern at an earlier stage. However, Dawn has taught us all not to be complacent, as it is imperative that we continue to respond to the findings to have impact and protect patients.

Looking ahead

I very much welcome the appointment of Dr Jerry Draper-Rodi as the new Director of NCOR. The GOsC provides support to NCOR, along with a group of organisations which also includes professional membership body the Institute of Osteopathy, the Osteopathic Foundation, the Council of Osteopathic Educational Institutions, the Sutherland Cranial College and the Osteopathic Alliance.

I am looking forward to working closely with Jerry and continuing to support NCOR in developing and enhancing the evidence base within osteopathy for the benefit of the profession.

I know Jerry is determined to maintain the high standards which Dawn has set as he leads NCOR into the next phase of its development.