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Remediation · General Chiropractic Council CPD Certified
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Chiropractors
Facing a GCC complaint, investigation or Professional Conduct Committee hearing? Start here. A CPD-certified remediation course for Chiropractors. Written for allegations about professional conduct, boundaries with patients, commercial pressure and payment plans, advertising and claims, record keeping and candour — and how to evidence that your practice has changed.
Who this course is for
Chiropractors on the GCC register, at any stage of a concern — or before one arises.
You have just had a letter
A complaint or concern has been raised and you need to respond. Start here, and start now — evidence built early always reads better than evidence assembled the week before a deadline.
You are preparing your response
You are writing to the GCC, or working with your insurer or professional association, and need documented CPD and written reflection to put behind what you say.
Your case is going further
The matter is heading towards the Investigating Committee or a Professional Conduct Committee hearing, and you need to show sustained change rather than good intentions.
Something has to be declared
A charge, a conviction, another regulator's investigation, or a suspension or restriction elsewhere. The Code requires you to tell the GCC promptly, and how you handle that is examined in its own right.
Nothing has been raised
You want your practice to stand up to scrutiny, and verifiable CPD in your record at the same time.
The concerns this course speaks to
The allegations that arise most often in chiropractic practice, and the Standards they engage.
Professional boundaries
Boundaries in hands-on practice, the power imbalance the Code names explicitly, and the prohibition on pursuing improper financial, emotional or personal relationships — including sexual boundaries.
Consent, chaperones and undressing
Valid consent as a continuous process, explaining and recording why clothing needs to be removed, offering a gown, and when to offer a chaperone.
Commercial pressure and payment plans
Keeping the clinical plan of care separate from any financial payment plan, refunds for unused care, and not pressuring a patient into long-term commitment. A distinctively chiropractic risk area.
Advertising and claims
Information about your services being factual and verifiable, health information you share publicly being consistent with the best quality of evidence available, and not exploiting a lack of health knowledge.
Record keeping and patient information
Records that are up to date, legible and attributable, clearly identified retrospective amendments, and secure storage — the area that most often turns a defensible complaint into an indefensible one.
Duty of candour and social media
Being open when something goes wrong, apologising properly, and communicating responsibly online without compromising boundaries or public confidence.
What the course covers
Seven sections and 33 lessons — the longest of our regulator-specific professionalism courses — with a post-course assessment at the finish.
Overview of professionalism
Defining professionalism in chiropractic practice, why it matters, and the GCC's role in setting and upholding standards.
Core principles
Nine lessons: patient-centred care, integrity and honesty, accountability, confidentiality and privacy, effective communication, respect and dignity, teamwork, documentation and record-keeping, and reflective practice.
The GCC and professional expectations
Knowledge, skills and competence; safety and quality in chiropractic services; communication, partnership and teamwork; and maintaining public trust and confidence.
Professional boundaries and ethical conduct
Five lessons: boundaries in chiropractic practice, the strict prohibition on romantic or sexual relationships, commercial pressures and conflicts of interest, digital boundaries and social media, and managing inappropriate patient behaviour.
Breaches, consequences and remediation
What a breach looks like in practice, the consequences for patients, practitioners and public trust, the GCC fitness to practise process, and what credible remediation involves.
Professionalism and fitness to practise
Seven lessons, and the part most courses leave out: early warning signs, insight in a live case, how to conduct yourself during an investigation, rehabilitation and restoring trust, and building professional resilience.
Conclusion and assessment
Key takeaways, followed by a post-course assessment. Your certificate is issued on completion.
How this helps if a concern has been raised
Cite the Standard, not the Code in general
The GCC is explicit that in a fitness to practise procedure the values, Principles, Standards, glossary and supplementary guidance will all be considered. That is an unusually clear statement of what a committee is reading, and it tells you exactly how to write. A response written against the Standard actually engaged — C11 for candour, E1 for boundaries, J2 for records — answers the concern. One written in general terms does not.
The other thing to get right is the order. Insight comes first, then reflection as its written record, then remediation as the evidence. A response that supplies remediation without insight is a stack of certificates; one that supplies insight without remediation is an account. Committees say so routinely, and they say it about responses that were otherwise perfectly sincere.
On completion you receive a certificate recording the course title, the CPD hours and the date — which, with your own written reflection, is suitable for inclusion in a remediation portfolio, a clinic appraisal folder or your CPD record. For the wider picture see GCC remediation courses.
Read the GCC’s own guidance The Code of Professional Practice ↗ The Code in full, with the glossary ↗ How we investigate concerns ↗ CPD requirements ↗
Ready to start? Written for chiropractors on the GCC register. Instant access, 2 CPD hours, certificate on completion.
Buy this course — £79.00Who wrote it
Course facilitator and author, Probity & Ethics
Dr Iqbal has designed and delivered ethics, probity and professionalism training for UK healthcare professionals since 2020, working with registrants of all nine UK healthcare regulators, online and face to face. He combines clinical practice with formal postgraduate training in healthcare law and ethics.
MBBS · MRCS · MRCGP · Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics, University of Dundee
Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed August 2026.
What does the GCC Code of Professional Practice require?
The Code (2016) was replaced by the Code of Professional Practice with effect from 1 January 2026. The old four-part structure has gone. The current Code sets out four shared values, realised through ten Principles lettered A to J, each carrying its own numbered Standards.
The GCC is explicit that in a fitness to practise procedure the values, Principles, Standards, glossary and supplementary guidance will all be considered. That has a direct consequence for how you write: cite the Standard actually engaged — C11 for candour, E1 for boundaries, J2 for records. A response written against the right Standard answers the concern. One written in general terms reads as though you have not looked.
What these words mean
The terms the GCC uses about a concern, and what each one means in practice.
Code of Professional Practice
The GCC's standards document, published 31 December 2024 and in force from 1 January 2026, replacing The Code (2016). Four shared values realised through ten Principles lettered A to J, each carrying its own numbered Standards, with an extensive glossary.
Principles and Standards
The Principles are the ten high-level duties, A to J. The Standards are the numbered requirements sitting under each one, and they are what a response should be written against. A chiropractor must meet all the Standards within each Principle; their number and order carry no weight or priority.
Supplementary guidance
Guidance the GCC issues alongside the Code on particular Principles or Standards. The expectation is that it is followed unless there is good reason not to, and each year at retention you confirm that you are keeping up to date with it.
Unacceptable professional conduct
What a complaint is investigated against. The Code says plainly that an unintentional or minor breach of a Standard is unlikely to amount to it — which is why the seriousness of a breach, and what you did next, matter as much as whether a Standard was engaged.
Fitness to practise
Being able to demonstrate that you are fit to be entered on the GCC register: sufficient knowledge, skills and competence, behaving professionally, and being in good health.
Professional boundaries
The limits that keep the relationship between chiropractor and patient professional rather than personal. The Code addresses the power imbalance directly and prohibits pursuing or encouraging improper financial, emotional or personal relationships, including any crossing of sexual boundaries.
Investigating Committee
The independent committee, made up of chiropractors and lay members, that reviews all the information gathered about a concern and decides whether there is a case to answer. It meets in private, so what it reads is your written response — the GCC then writes to you with the decision and its reasons.
Interim order
A restriction imposed while a concern is still being considered, up to and including suspension of registration. It is used where patient safety appears to be at risk, or where allowing unrestricted practice could seriously damage confidence in chiropractors generally. It is not a finding against you.
Insight
Understanding what went wrong, why it happened, and the effect it had on patients, colleagues and public confidence in the profession. The element most often described as lacking.
Remediation
The concrete steps taken so the same thing does not happen again — training, supervision, changes to how you work — together with evidence that they happened and have been sustained.
Your Code changed on 1 January 2026
If your understanding of the standards was formed before this year, it rests on a superseded document.
Four values, ten Principles, lettered A to J
Each Principle carries its own numbered Standards. The four-part structure of the 2016 Code no longer exists, so a response organised around it will not map onto anything the GCC is reading.
Everything is considered, not just the Standards
In a fitness to practise procedure the values, Principles, Standards, glossary and supplementary guidance are all in scope. The glossary in particular defines terms that decide cases — apology, boundaries, inducement, safety incident.
A minor breach is not automatically misconduct
The Code says an unintentional or minor breach of a Standard is unlikely to constitute unacceptable professional conduct. Seriousness, intention and what you did next all matter, which is why the response is worth writing carefully.
The Standards a GCC case usually turns on
Read off the Code itself. Find the one your concern engages, quote it by letter and number, and answer it directly — that is what turns an account into a response.
E1 — Professional boundaries
Recognise the power imbalance that comes with being a healthcare professional, and do not abuse it. No improper financial, emotional or personal relationships, and no crossing of professional boundaries, sexual boundaries included.
E3 and E4 — Undressing and chaperones
Explain the clinical need for clothing to be removed, obtain and record valid consent, respect privacy to undress and offer a gown. Offer a chaperone wherever the assessment might be considered intimate, or the patient is a child or vulnerable adult, or asks for one — and record it.
C10 — Payment plans
Determine and share the clinical plan of care separately and independently from any financial payment plan. Provide a clear contract including refunds for unused care, do not extend a plan beyond the care you set out, and do not pressure a patient into a long-term financial commitment.
C9 — Business and inducements
Be honest, fair and transparent in business. Clinical judgement must not be prejudiced by personal, financial or commercial interest, and you must not ask for, accept or offer an inducement that may prejudice a patient's care.
C5 and C6 — Advertising and health information
Information about your services must be factual and verifiable, must not mislead, and must not exploit a patient's vulnerability or lack of health knowledge. Health information you share publicly must be consistent with the best quality of evidence available. Delegating it does not move the accountability.
C11 — Duty of candour
Be open and honest when something goes wrong with care that causes, or could cause, harm or distress: tell the patient, offer an apology, offer a suitable remedy or support, and explain the resulting actions.
J2 and J3 — Records
Records kept up to date, legible and attributable, accurately representing each interaction, with retrospective amendments or additions clearly identified as such. Stored safely and securely for an appropriate retention period.
G3 — Fees and complaints
Visible, easy to understand information on fees, charging policies and how to complain — including the patient's right to change their mind about care and to refer an unresolved complaint to the GCC.
G6 — Communicating online
Communicate responsibly online, including on social and media-sharing platforms. Check that information is not misleading, and maintain professional boundaries and public confidence.
C15 and C16 — Telling the GCC, and cooperating
Promptly inform the GCC of a criminal charge or conviction anywhere in the world, of a regulatory investigation, or of suspension, dismissal or a practice restriction elsewhere. Cooperate promptly and fully with any investigation, respond to reasonable requests, and follow the directions you are given.
The three things a regulator looks for
Named in almost every decision, in this order. A response that supplies only the first is incomplete.
Insight
Understanding what went wrong, why it happened, and the effect it had on patients, colleagues and public confidence in the profession. It is the element most often described as lacking.
Reflection
Setting that understanding down honestly and in your own words, including what you would do differently and what you have already changed. Reflection is the written record of insight.
Remediation
The concrete steps taken so the same thing does not happen again — training, supervision, changes to how you work — together with evidence that they happened.
What happens after a concern is raised
Set out by the GCC on its own site. Knowing which stage you are at tells you what your response has to do, and how long you have to build the evidence behind it.
The concern is reviewed
The GCC reviews what has been raised before deciding whether to open an investigation, and says it will be in touch within seven days about the steps it intends to take.
Evidence is gathered
The person raising the concern is invited to give a formal written statement, and may be asked to agree to release of relevant health records. Other evidence may be sought as well.
You are told, and you respond
The details are shared with you and you get an opportunity to respond. Your response is shared back with the person who raised the concern. This is the stage where written evidence of insight and remediation does most of its work.
An interim order, in serious cases only
Where there appears to be an immediate risk to the public, the GCC can act to stop a chiropractor seeing patients while the concern is considered, including by suspending registration. It is a protective step, not a finding.
The Investigating Committee decides
An independent committee of chiropractors and lay members reviews all the information and decides whether there is a case to answer. It meets in private, so your written response is what it reads. You are written to with the decision and the reasons for it.
Referral to a formal hearing
If fitness to practise is found to be in question, the case goes to the Professional Conduct Committee, or to the Health Committee where the concern is about health. That is the public hearing stage.
Frequently asked questions
What changed in the Code on 1 January 2026?
The Code (2016) was replaced by the Code of Professional Practice, published on 31 December 2024 and in force from 1 January 2026. The old four-part structure has gone. The new Code sets out four shared values — patient-centred care; honesty, integrity and transparency; safety and quality; and professionalism — realised through ten Principles lettered A to J, each carrying its own numbered Standards. The GCC is explicit that in a fitness to practise procedure the values, Principles, Standards, glossary and supplementary guidance will all be considered. If you are working from the 2016 Code, you are working from a superseded document.
How should I cite the Code in my written response?
By Standard, not in general terms. C11 is the duty of candour, E1 is the power imbalance and professional boundaries, J2 covers patient records, C10 covers payment plans, C5 and C6 cover advertising and health information. A response written against the Standard actually engaged answers the concern; one written in general terms reads as though you have not looked. Find the Standard, quote it by letter and number, and address it directly.
What actually happens after a complaint is made about me?
The GCC reviews the concern and says it will be in touch within seven days about the steps it will take. It gathers evidence, including a formal written statement from the person raising the concern and, where relevant and agreed, health records. The details are then shared with you and you are given an opportunity to respond, and your response is shared back. An independent Investigating Committee of chiropractors and lay members reviews everything and decides whether there is a case to answer; it meets in private, so your written response is what it reads. You are written to with the decision and its reasons. If fitness to practise is found to be in question, the case is referred to the Professional Conduct Committee, or the Health Committee where the concern is about health.
Can I keep practising while a concern is being investigated?
Usually, yes. Most concerns are investigated without any restriction on practice. In serious cases, where there appears to be an immediate risk to the public, the GCC can act to stop a chiropractor seeing patients while the concern is considered, and that can include suspending registration. Interim restrictions are used where patient safety is at risk or where unrestricted practice could seriously damage confidence in chiropractors generally — they are protective, and they are not a finding that anything has been proved against you.
Do I have to tell the GCC about a criminal charge or another investigation?
Yes, and promptly. The Code requires you to inform the GCC if anywhere in the world you are charged with or convicted of a criminal offence, become the subject of a regulatory investigation, or are suspended, dismissed, refused membership or placed under a practice restriction following concerns about your conduct or competence — by a regulator, insurer, professional body or employer. The duty is separate from whatever that other body is doing, and failing to declare is routinely treated as more serious than the matter being declared.
What does cooperating with a GCC investigation actually require?
More than replying when it suits. The Code requires you to cooperate promptly and fully with any formal investigation, inquiry or complaints procedure — into your own conduct or performance, that of others, or the care of a patient — to respond to all reasonable requests from the GCC, and, once you are told you are the subject of an investigation, to follow the directions you are given so the process can be fair and efficient. Delay and silence are visible, and they get read as an attitude to regulation rather than as an administrative lapse.
What counts as unacceptable professional conduct?
Not every departure from a Standard. The Code says plainly that an unintentional or minor breach is unlikely to amount to unacceptable professional conduct. What that means in practice is that the question is rarely only whether a Standard was engaged: it is how serious the breach was, whether it was intentional, and what you did once you realised. That is exactly where insight, reflection and evidenced remediation do their work.
Does this count towards my GCC CPD?
It is certified CPD, and the certificate records the course title, the hours and the date. One thing to be clear about before you buy: a self-paced online course is learning on your own, so it counts as individual learning rather than as learning with others. Check the GCC's current CPD requirements for what your own year needs to contain.
Is this course approved or endorsed by the GCC?
No. The GCC does not approve, accredit or endorse CPD courses from any provider, including us, and it does not keep an approved list. It sets the requirement and you choose activity that meets it. This course is certified by The CPD Certification Service, an independent accreditation body, under Provider No. 13197.
Will completing this course resolve my case?
No. No course, from us or from anyone else, determines the outcome of a GCC matter. What a course can do is help you build the insight and reflection your response needs, and give you a verifiable certificate to evidence it. Your insurer, professional association or a specialist regulatory adviser should advise on your own case.
I have an interim suspension or conditions — is this still worth doing?
Yes, and arguably more so. Where an interim order or conditions are in place, the question at review is what has changed since. Verifiable CPD completed while the order is running, reflected on in writing, is one of the clearest ways to show the trajectory a reviewing committee is looking for.
How long does it take?
It runs to 2 CPD hours across seven sections and 33 lessons — the longest of our regulator-specific professionalism courses. It is self-paced, and you can stop, resume and return to it as often as you like.
Can I use it for my employer or clinic appraisal?
Yes. The certificate records the course title, the CPD hours and the date, and sits equally well in a clinic appraisal folder, your CPD record, or a remediation portfolio for the GCC.
Is it “fitness to practise” or “fitness to practice”?
Both are in use. In British English practise is the verb and practice is the noun, so the GCC and the other regulators write fitness to practise, and this page follows them. Most people searching for help type fitness to practice, and plenty of professional bodies use that spelling too. They mean the same thing, and nothing turns on which you use in your own response.
Can I buy more than one course?
Yes. Our Bulk Buy offer covers any 10 courses and works out considerably cheaper per course. Allegations rarely arrive alone — professionalism, boundaries, records and candour usually feature in the same letter — so a bundle is usually the better answer to a real case.
Courses that work alongside this one
The ethics pair to this course: how a decision was reached, where this one covers how you conducted yourself.
The element assessed in almost every case, whatever the allegation, and the one most often described as lacking.
How to write reflection that reads as understanding rather than regret, in your own words.
Turning insight into concrete, evidenced change that a committee can see actually happened.
The forward-looking half of remediation: what you have put in place so it cannot happen again.
What fitness to practise means, how the process works, and what is being assessed at each stage.
Restoring confidence after a concern — with patients, with colleagues and with the regulator.
This course. Conduct, boundaries, commercial pressure, records and candour under the Code of Professional Practice — and the evidenced remediation that answers a GCC concern.
See all GCC remediation courses →
Start your remediation today, finish at your own pace
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Buy this course — £79.00 Bulk buy — any 10 courses