General Osteopathic Council removes Christopher Willis from its Register of osteopaths

The allegation considered by the PCC was that Christopher Willis had failed to obtain and maintain professional indemnity insurance (PII) as required since 15 June 2018, and that he had falsified insurance documents with a view to dishonestly misleading the GOsC into thinking that he was insured.

The PCC, chaired by Richard Davies, found that Christopher Willis practised without PII for a considerable period during which time he put patients at risk and had brought his profession into disrepute both by his failure to maintain PII and his conduct toward his regulator.

The PCC also found that Christopher Willis ‘dishonestly sought to mislead his regulator and frustrate the proper regulation of his practice by falsifying a document the importance of which is integral to professional practise as an osteopath’. The PCC concluded that Christopher Willis’s misconduct was ‘very grave’.

In deciding the appropriate and sufficient sanction, the PCC noted that Christopher Willis had demonstrated neither remorse nor remediation, finding that he ‘had abrogated his responsibilities entirely by apparently declining to reflect, remediate, engage with his regulator, or assist the regulatory process’. The PCC concluded that the gravity of the osteopath’s conduct together with the risk to the public and to the profession was such that no lesser sanction than removal from the Register would suffice.

The PCC determined that Christopher Willis’ name should be removed from the statutory Register of osteopaths.

The 28-day appeal period has expired and Christopher Willis is now unable to practise as an osteopath.

Read the hearing decision made on 3 December 2020