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What is unacceptable professional conduct? Give us your views.

7 October 2014

New guidance to help decisions about whether or not complaints about an osteopath's conduct should be investigated or referred to a hearing.

What is unacceptable professional conduct? Consultation

We are seeking your views on new guidance to assist those involved in deciding whether or not complaints to the GOsC about an osteopath’s conduct should be investigated or referred to a formal hearing.

We receive complaints ranging from commercial disputes between osteopaths at one end of the spectrum to serious sexual abuse and dishonesty at the other.

When we receive a complaint, it is first considered by a ‘Screener’ (an osteopath) who will decide whether it should be referred to the GOsC’s Investigating Committee. This Committee will consider the evidence and refer the case to the Professional Conduct Committee for a hearing if the allegations suggest Unacceptable Professional Conduct.

Following recent case law, a threshold has been developed to determine whether a complaint can constitute Unacceptable Professional Conduct. This is in response to concerns that regulators might be dealing inappropriately with cases that are private matters, such as a commercial dispute between practitioners. The test is whether the allegations are “worthy of the moral opprobrium and the publicity” which flow from such a finding. By “moral opprobrium”, we understand the court to mean that before an osteopath can be found guilty of Unacceptable Professional Conduct, the actions of that osteopath must be worthy of ‘very strong public disapproval’.

We have developed guidance setting out threshold criteria for the types of complaints and allegations which do not constitute UPC. These categories include: 

  • Anonymous complaints that cannot otherwise be verified
  • Complaints relating to employment disputes 
  • Complaints about contractual disputes, fees, and arrangements for the lease of premises and facilities
  • Complaints that have no public protection implications 
  • Minor motoring offences, such as fixed penalties and parking fines, which did not result in conviction (provided drugs, alcohol or health issues are not involved).

The aim of this guidance is to reach a clear consensus on which matters should be investigated and referred for a hearing, and which should not concern the GOsC. This will assist the GOsC and its committees in their decision-making, allowing a more effective use of time and resources.

There are two potential points at which the draft Guidance could be considered:

  1. By the Screener, in deciding that there is no power to deal with a complaint under the Act, because a complaint that did not meet the threshold criteria could never amount to an allegation of Unacceptable Professional Conduct
  2. By the Investigating Committee in deciding whether or not there is a case to answer, because there would be no real prospect of the Professional Conduct Committee finding the allegation proved.

As part of the consultation, we would value your views about which part of the decision-making process you consider it most appropriate for the Guidance to be taken into account at.

To send us your views, read the draft Guidance on Threshold Criteria, along with the consultation document at: www.osteopathy.org.uk/about/our-work/consultationsevents/Draft-guidance-on-threshold-criteria/. There is an online response form and also a Word form that can be emailed back to us.

The deadline for responses is 31 December 2014. We look forward to hearing from you.