It is our duty to identify whether a concern about an osteopath is a legitimate matter that needs to be investigated to ensure public protection and all concerns raised with us are taken very seriously.

What is fitness to practise?

Fitness to practise means ensuring that an osteopath has the required skills and maintains proper and professional standards to do their job safely, not posing a risk to the public or undermining trust in their profession.

As the regulator, we must ensure that all osteopaths on the Register maintain these levels of conduct. The Osteopathic Practice Standards support osteopaths in improving their practice and complying with legislation, ensuring high-quality care for patients.

Concerns may fall within one of several categories (called ‘allegations’) as defined by law, including:

• conduct which has fallen short of the standard required
• professional incompetence
• conviction of a criminal offence
• serious impairment because of physical or mental health

We publish the outcomes of concerns made to us in our Annual Reports and our Fitness to Practise Annual Reports.

Every osteopath in the UK must be registered with us.

Concerns and complaints about osteopaths

Many concerns come from misunderstandings and it is often helpful to discuss your concerns with the osteopath first.

However, we want you to contact us immediately in any cases in which the osteopath is:

• acting in a dishonest, indecent or violent way
• working under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• having a personal relationship with a patient
• examining or treating a patient without their consent
• incompetent (when an osteopath’s work fails to meet the standards we set in our Osteopathic Practice Standards)
• treating someone negatively based only on that person’s ethnicity, background, identity or protected characteristics
• Practising under the title ‘Osteopath’ when they are not registered

If you are a patient and have other concerns about the treatment you have received, or the way your osteopath has behaved and you would prefer not to discuss directly with them, you may be able to discuss it with another osteopath in the practice. Ask about the practice’s complaints procedure: all osteopathic practices should have one. If there is no one else in the practice, another osteopath may be able to give an opinion, most will be pleased to help you.

If you are not satisfied that your concerns have been properly dealt with, or if you want further advice, you should contact our Regulation Department on 020 7357 6655 x224 or email regulation@osteopathy.org.uk. We are here to help you with any concern or complaint you may have about an osteopath.

Information for employers

If you work for an NHS Trust or other employer and you are considering taking internal disciplinary action against an osteopath, you need to tell us, especially if there is evidence to suggest that an osteopath’s ability to practise may be impaired.

Informing us does not necessarily mean that we will seek to bring the case before the Professional Conduct Committee or ask you to suspend or end your own procedures. In many cases, it will be more appropriate for us to wait until local procedures have been completed. We try to work together with employers whenever possible and we are always willing to discuss individual cases.

Our Policy on Notification of Fitness to Practise Investigations and Outcomes explains what information we will provide to third parties, such as employers, about the investigation and outcome of complaints against osteopaths.