In Council: brief report of 14 October Council meeting

The agenda and all related papers can be found on the public website at www.osteopathy.org.uk/about-us/the-organisation/meetings. Full minutes will be posted on the website following the next Council meeting on 3 February 2011

Working Group to develop a strategy for engagement with the profession on regulatory issues

The Council received an oral report of the Working Group’s first meeting and noted the Group’s work plan.

Annual Reports (2009-2010) from GOsC Committees

The Council was presented with the annual report on the activities during 2009-2010 of the Education Committee.

Revalidation

The Council noted the progress made in the development of the Revalidation Assessment criteria and other related matters for the draft revalidation scheme. It also received an update on the progress of the evaluation and impact assessment of the draft revalidation scheme

Standard of Proficiency/Code of Practice Consultation

The Council approved the establishment of a working group to consider the findings following completion of the consultation, and to make recommendations.

Information Security Management

The Council approved an outline Information Security Policy and also a project plan to manage effective adherence to the Security Policy.

Fitness to practise committees’ reports

The Council received reports from the Chairs of both the Investigating Committee and the Professional Standards Committees.

Fitness to Practise Policy Committee

The Council received a report on the work of the Fitness to Practise Policy Committee. A programme of work for the coming year was agreed as well as acknowledging that other issues that arose, from time to time, would be slotted into the Committee work programme.

Responsibility Allowance for chairs of Committees

The Council agreed the principle that an additional allowance be paid to chairs of all statutory and non-statutory committees. The amount to be paid would be agreed by the Council, on a recommendation of the Remuneration Committee, based on a consideration of the meeting frequency and workload involved. In the interim, an additional responsibility allowance of £2,000, as recommended by the Remuneration Committee in June 2010, would be awarded to the Chair of the Fitness to Practise Policy Committee.

Research

Osteopathic Patients’ Expectations of Care: the OPEn project

The Council received an update on the survey of patient expectations of osteopathic care, commissioned by the GOsC, and the summary report of the findings. The Report would be published and disseminated to the profession and other stakeholders once an analysis had been completed by the GOsC’s executive.

Standards data collection (SDC) within osteopathic private practice in the UK: development and first use of a tool to profile osteopathic care in 2009

The Council noted the completion of the National Council for Osteopathic Research (NCOR)-led project, sponsored by the GOsC, to develop and pilot a standardised data collection tool. It also noted the outcome of the SDC project and the recommendations by NCOR with regard to use of the SDC Tool and areas for potential further research/data collection. Detailed consideration of the findings and the recommendations of the SDC Report would now be referred to the Executive and relevant committees of the Council for further development.

Stakeholder engagement

As a statutory regulator, the GOsC has a specific duty to engage actively with all relevant stakeholders. This ensures the GOsC has proper regard for the interests of registrants and osteopathic patients. The GOsC is committed also to working with those concerned with the education, training and employment of osteopaths, and with the regulation of healthcare professions and provision of health services, in the interests of promoting patient safety and high standards of osteopathic practice.

The Council receives an overview of stakeholder engagement activities at each of its meetings and a copy of the report can be obtained from the GOsC’s Communications Department on 020 7357 6655 x242 or by emailing info@osteopathy.org.uk.

Future Council meetings

• 3 February 2011
• 12 April 2011

Meetings begin at 10am at Osteopathy House and agendas and papers for the public session are available on the GOsC public website at www.osteopathy.org.uk or from Jane Quinnell, approximately 7 to 10 days before the meeting. Public sessions of Council meetings are open to members of the public, including osteopaths.

For further information, contact Jane Quinnell, Governance Manager, on
01580 720 213 or email: janeq@osteopathy.org.uk.