In Council: brief report of 3 February Council meeting

The agenda and all related papers can be found on the Meetings page of the public website.

Recruitment Campaign for post of Chair of the GOsC

The current Chair of the GOsC, Professor Adrian Eddleston, will step down in March 2012. Advertising for a new Chair – who can be an osteopath or lay – will start in April 2011 to enable an appointment by October and a handover/shadowing period.

Osteopaths’ Advertising

GOsC will shortly be providing individual advice to osteopaths with websites that could potentially be in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority CAP Code, which will apply to websites from 1 March 2011. The British Osteopathic Association is supporting the GOsC’s work in this area.

Forum for Osteopathic Regulation in Europe (FORE)

At a recent meeting of FORE, progress was made towards seeking a European Standard of Osteopathy with the European Committee of Standardisation. Once the work commences, within three years, there will be a Europe-wide standard for osteopathy, recognised by the European Commission.

Fitness to Practise Report

It was reported that the high number of complaints received in the early part of 2010 did not seem to be repeating itself this year, with only one complaint received so far up to the beginning of February. The Professional Conduct Committee is currently sitting more than once a month to deal with the high number of complaints with a case to answer made last year.

Business plan and budget 2011-2012

The draft business plan, budget and risk analysis, based on the second year of the three year Corporate Plan 2010-13, was presented to Council.

Although additional expenditure is planned in 2011-12 on scope of practice research, Osteopathic Practice Standards, security policy development and governance changes, savings have been identified on research activity, renegotiating service contracts and more effective procurement which mean that no increase in fees are required. In addition increases in VAT, Insurance Premium Tax and National Insurance were also being contained through efficiency savings. Work on the revalidation pilot project is being funded from a grant from the Department of Health.

Customer complaints policy

Council agreed the adoption of a new corporate complaints policy as at present there is only a policy for making complaints about individual staff. The current process for making a complaint against a member of the governance structure, e.g. a Council member, would be retained.

Osteopathic Practice Standards

The consultation on the draft Osteopathic Practice Standards (OPS) closed on 30 November 2010 and Council received a report which outlined the initial findings from that consultation and the steps that would be taken to develop new Osteopathic Practice Standards. Council is expected to approve a new Osteopathic Practice Standards document, incorporating feedback from the consultation, at its April meeting.

Revalidation

Council approved for publication two new documents that will inform the development of revalidation. The first of these is the latest assessment criteria and evidence which will be used for revalidation pilot scheduled to take place later this year. These can be found at www.osteopathy.org.uk/standards/continuing-fitness-to-practise

The second document is a survey titled ‘How do osteopaths practise?’ which was commissioned from KPMG to inform the impact assessment of the pilots.

Council also agreed a list of benefits and incentives for osteopaths who complete revalidation pilots including the award of a full year’s CPD hours for those completing the pilot.

Quality Assurance Preliminary Review

The revision of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Handbook and a review of the osteopathic education institutions’ Annual Report to the GOsC are being undertaken as part of a review of GOsC quality assurance procedures. Council agreed that these will be published for a three month public consultation by the QAA aiming to commence on 19 February 2011. The consultation will be accessible via both the QAA website: www.qaa.ac.uk and the GOsC website: www.osteopathy.org.uk/about-us/our-work/consultations-and-events/closed-consultations/ 

Student Fitness to Practise

Council received a report from a Student Fitness to Practise Working Group (comprising osteopathic education institutions, students and lay members) which set out draft guidance on student fitness to practice. Council agreed to informally consult with stakeholders about the draft guidance. Council also noted plans for the recruitment of a specialist to develop guidance about the management of health and disability in training for the osteopathic education institutions and students.

Future Council meetings

12 April 2011

14 July 2011

11 October 2011

26 January 2012

17 April 2012

Meetings begin at 10am at Osteopathy House and agendas and papers for the public session are available on the GOsC public website (www.osteopathy.org.uk) or from Jane Quinnell, approximately 7 to 10 days before the meeting. For further information, contact Jane Quinnell, Governance Manager, on 01580 720 213 or email: janeq@osteopathy.org.uk.