“Promoting profession” likely to be removed from Osteopaths
Act
References to promoting the profession are likely to be removed from
the Osteopaths Act 1993 in response to the Foster review (PDF 1.3 MB),
which calls for a separation of the regulatory and professional leadership
functions
of four health regulators, including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) met last month to consider how
best to respond to the Government’s consultation
on the Foster review, which ends on 11 November. Madeleine Craggs,
chief executive and registrar of the GOsC, says in this month’s
issue of The
Osteopath (PDF 1.8 MB) that removal of any reference
to promoting the profession will prevent “their
focus inwards on the professions’ interests and the need for the
regulator to be seen to be free from such influences” (a quote
from the Foster review) and bring osteopathic regulation in line with
other health professions generally.
However, she adds that the need to continue to promote standards and
the development of the profession, and to ensure public awareness of
osteopathic regulation and practice, were also agreed. In reality, she
says, the communications remit of the council will continue largely unchanged
since, being mindful of its regulatory remit, it has assiduously resisted
promoting individual osteopaths and their practices. “There is
little inappropriate activity to relinquish,” she writes.
Since it currently allows for 12 appointed members (50 per cent of the
council), the council concluded that there is no obvious need for change. “This
combined with a lay chairman and lay members chairing statutory committees,
should be sufficient to quell public perception that professional members ‘look
out for their own’,” writes Ms Craggs.
How osteopaths are currently regulated
The General Osteopathic Council was established under the Osteopaths
Act 1993 and its stated aims are:
· To protect patients
· To develop the osteopathic profession
· To promote an understanding of osteopathic care
It does this by registering qualified professionals, setting standards
of osteopathic practice and conduct, assuring the quality of osteopathic
education, ensuring continuing professional development and helping
patients with complaints about an osteopath.
The GOsC’s council is made up of 12 osteopathic members elected
by the profession, eight lay members appointed by the Privy Council
(of which one is the chairman), three members appointed by the education
committee (currently one osteopath and two lay members) and one lay
member appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills.
It has four committees established under the Osteopaths Act 1993
with specific legal functions: education, investigating, professional
conduct and health. In addition, it has five non-statutory committees
that deal with communications, finance and general purposes, audit,
practice and ethics, and use of title. |
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