CPD-AccreditedCertified byRemediation · General Osteopathic Council CPD Certified & Accredited
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Osteopaths CPD course for Osteopaths facing a GOsC fitness to practise investigation, complaint or Professional Conduct Committee hearing — and for your CPD
Which of these is your situation?
- Professionalism and professional standards — an allegation or GOsC investigation about your conduct as an osteopath?
- Facing an allegation of misconduct or unprofessional behaviour from a patient, an employer or the GOsC?
- Under a GOsC fitness to practise investigation and asked to show insight and remediation?
- A boundary crossed with a patient or a colleague, in person or online?
- A complaint about consent or communication?
- A concern about record keeping or documentation?
- An allegation of dishonesty about advertising, invoicing or a claim about treatment?
- Social media conduct, a review reply or a candour failure raised as a concern?
- Preparing for a Professional Conduct Committee hearing, applying for restoration, or building your CPD?
- Looking for a CPD certified and accredited professionalism course for osteopaths that a panel will recognise as remediation?
This course is written for every one of these — and for your CPD.
Help with a GOsC complaint, investigation or Professional Conduct Committee hearing starts here. This course helps you address the concern — and demonstrate the remediation, with a dated certificate for your written response, your CPD record or a hearing.
Dr Shehzad IqbalFounder, course author and facilitatorMBBS, MRCS, MRCGP
Ludmila UpenieceBusiness development and supportPsychology, UEL London
In short: Professionalism and Professional Standards for Osteopaths, by Probity & Ethics, is an online professionalism CPD course for osteopaths facing an allegation or GOsC investigation, a complaint or a fitness to practise concern, and for CPD. It is self-paced, 2 CPD hours, £79 (£50 with Bulk Buy 10), CPD certified and CPD accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197), with a certificate on completion. It is written to the Osteopathic Practice Standards and covers the professional standards a GOsC case is measured against.
Who This Course is For
A GOsC letter has just arrived
A complaint or fitness to practice investigation has started, and you need to respond. Evidence built early reads better than evidence assembled the week before a deadline.
Preparing your response
Your professional body, or your insurer, and need documented CPD and written reflection behind what you say.
Your case is going to committee
You need to show sustained change, not just good intentions.
Applying for restoration to the register
You are off the Register and working towards going back on it. Evidence of what you have done in the meantime is the core of a restoration application, and you do not need to be registered to take this.
Building your CPD before a concern arises
You want your practice to stand up to scrutiny, with verifiable CPD in your record.
The Concerns This Course Speaks To
Professional Boundaries
Boundary concerns in hands-on practice with a patient or a colleague, dual relationships, and the prohibition on romantic or sexual relationships with patients. The GOsC calls a failure here the most serious abuse of professional standing.
Consent and Communication
Chaperones, explaining risk, and patients who say they didn't understand.
Record Keeping
Thin notes turn a defensible complaint into an indefensible one.
Probity and Dishonesty
Advertising, invoicing, and the category regulators treat most seriously.
Social Media Conduct
Posts, reviews, and the blur between professional and personal accounts.
Duty of Candour
Being open when something goes wrong, and apologising properly.
What This GOsC Remediation Course for Osteopaths Covers
Seven sections, 40 lessons, with a post-course assessment:
Overview of professionalism and the GOsC's role
This section establishes what professionalism means within osteopathic practice and why it sits at the heart of every fitness to practise decision.
Core principles
We examine the foundational duties that underpin safe and ethical osteopathic practice, including your obligations to patients, colleagues, and the public.
The Osteopathic Practice Standards
You will learn how each standard applies in day-to-day clinical settings and what failure to meet them looks like in practice.
Professional boundaries
We cover where professional boundaries apply in osteopathic practice, from therapeutic relationships with patients through to conduct with colleagues and the public.
Breaches and consequences
You will understand each stage of the fitness to practise process, from initial referral through to hearing outcomes, and what practitioners can do at each point.
Professionalism and fitness to practise
We explore what regulators mean when they assess insight, and how osteopaths can demonstrate genuine understanding of what went wrong and why.
Conclusion and assessment
The final section consolidates the learning from all seven modules and prepares you for the post-course assessment.
How this helps if a GOsC concern has been raised
Answer the standard you are being measured against
The Osteopathic Practice Standards are arranged under four themes. The GOsC describes Theme D, professionalism, as covering honesty and integrity, professional boundaries, the duty of candour and the confidential management of patient information. A response written against the standard engaged is more persuasive than one in general terms.
The order matters too: insight 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.
On completion you receive a CPD certificate recording the course title, the CPD hours and the date — with your written reflection, evidence for a GOsC fitness to practise response, a remediation portfolio, a restoration application or your CPD record. See all GOsC remediation courses.
Read the GOsC’s own guidance: OPS Theme D: Professionalism ↗ Investigation stages explained ↗ Restoration to the register ↗
Guides for a GOsC concern
Read these before you respond. Each one covers a stage of the process and names the courses for it.
Ready to start? Written for osteopaths, including those working towards restoration. 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 remediation courses 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
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Osteopaths is a Probity & Ethics course, written by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service and offered since February 2026.
Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal. Last reviewed .
Which Standards Will My Case be Measured Against?
The Osteopathic Practice Standards are arranged under four themes: A, communication and patient partnership; B, knowledge, skills and performance; C, safety and quality in practice; and D, professionalism. Where a concern is about conduct rather than clinical technique, Theme D is the one engaged — it requires osteopaths to act with honesty and integrity and covers professional boundaries, the duty of candour, and confidential management of patient information.
That has a direct consequence for how you write: name the standard, not the theme. Saying a concern engages Theme D is a category; quoting the standard within it and answering what it requires is a response.
What These GOsC Terms Mean
The terms the GOsC uses about a concern, and what each one means in practice.
Osteopathic Practice Standards
The standards of conduct, ethics and competence for osteopaths, arranged under four themes, A to D.
Theme D: Professionalism
The theme most conduct concerns engage; see "Which standards will my case be measured against?" above.
Professional boundaries
Physical, emotional or sexual; the GOsC calls a failure here the most serious abuse of professional standing.
Abuse of professional standing
The GOsC's own phrase for a boundary failure. What happened, why, and what you did next all matter.
Duty to inform the GOsC (D12)
Telling the GOsC promptly about proceedings, charges, cautions, or an employer's restriction, anywhere in the world.
Record retention
A minimum of 8 years after the last consultation, or until a child patient's 25th birthday.
Restoration to the register
The route back for an osteopath who has been removed or has come off the Register. Evidence of what you have done in the meantime sits at the core of the application, which is why registration is not a prerequisite for this course.
Verifiable CPD
CPD with evidence of completion for your CPD record. This course is certified and self-directed.
Insight
Understanding what went wrong, why it happened, and the effect it had on patients, colleagues and public confidence in the profession. The element panels describe as lacking.
Remediation
The concrete steps taken so it doesn't happen again, with evidence they occurred; see "How this helps" above.
What Theme D Actually Covers
More than people expect, and read off the standards themselves. Find the part your concern engages, and answer what it actually requires.
D1 — Honesty and integrity:
No self-interest above patient duty, truthful advertising under the CAP Code, accurate qualifications.
D2 — Professional boundaries:
Physical, emotional and sexual boundaries; never end a relationship solely to pursue a personal one.
D3 — Duty of candour:
Tell the patient, explain, apologise, offer a remedy when something goes wrong.
D4 — Complaints:
A clear complaints policy, prompt response, and informing your indemnity insurer immediately.
D5 — Privacy and Records:
Confidentiality survives the patient's death; minimum 8-year retention.
D6 — Fairness and Equality:
No refusal of service on a protected characteristic.
D7 — Reputation of the Profession:
Honest conduct online and offline; convictions may be evidence of unfitness to practise
D8 — Financial Dealings:
Responsible charging, no pressuring patients, declared referral benefits.
D9 — Colleagues and Staff:
Responsibility for everyone you employ, including admin staff.
D10 — Other Professionals:
Honest, respectful comment; proper referral procedures.
D11 — Your Own Health:
Seek advice, stop practising if necessary, inform the GOsC.
D12 — Telling the GOsC:
Proceedings, charges, cautions, or restrictions, anywhere in the world.
Frequently asked questions
Is it "fitness to practise" or "fitness to practice"?
Both spellings are used online, but "fitness to practise" (with an s) is the correct British English form the GOsC and other UK regulators use, since "practise" is the verb. You'll see "fitness to practice investigation" written both ways in searches, but official GOsC documents always use "practise."
Do I have to tell the GOsC about a caution, charge or suspension?
More than people expect. It requires osteopaths to act with honesty and integrity and to uphold high standards of professional and personal conduct so as to maintain public trust, and it deals expressly with professional boundaries, the duty of candour and the confidential management of patient information. It also covers advertising and claims about your qualifications, the use of titles including 'doctor', conduct online, fees and charging, declaring any benefit you receive for referring a patient, and holding professional indemnity insurance.
I'm not currently registered, can I still do the course?
Yes. Registration isn't required. This course is taken as often by osteopaths working towards restoration as by those currently on the register responding to a concern.
Does this count towards my GOsC CPD?
Yes. There is no registration check and no requirement to be on the Register. The course is taken as often by people who are suspended, who have removed themselves from the Register, or who are working towards restoration as it is by registrants responding to a live concern. If you are applying for restoration, evidence of what you have done in the meantime is the core of the application, and a certified course with your written reflection is exactly that.
Will completing this course resolve my case?
No course determines the outcome of a fitness to practise case. What it provides is the evidenced insight, reflection and remediation that a committee looks for — take advice from your professional body, insurer or a specialist regulatory adviser about your own circumstances.
How long does it take?
It runs to 2 CPD hours across seven sections and 40 lessons — one of the most detailed courses in our range. Many people work through it in several sittings; it is self-paced and you can return to it as often as you like.
Why do we write “fitness to practise” and not “fitness to practice”?
Both spellings are in use for the same process. In British English practise is the verb and practice is the noun, so the UK regulators write fitness to practise, and this page follows them. The spelling with a c is the American one, and it appears in searches and in some professional bodies’ material. 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 3, 5 or 10 courses and works out cheaper per course. Many concerns touch more than one area of practice — boundaries and record keeping, or probity and communication — so a bundle is usually the better answer to a real allegation.
Related Courses
The ethics pair to this course: how a decision was reached, where this one covers how you conducted yourself.
The element a panel assesses in every case, whatever the allegation, and the one a response is read for.
How to write reflection that reads as understanding rather than regret.
Turning insight into concrete, evidenced change a committee can see actually happened.
What fitness to practise means, how the process works, and what is being assessed at each stage.
See all GOsC remediation courses →
Start Your GOsC Remediation Today, Finish at Your Own Pace
Instant access on purchase. Certificate on completion, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service.
Buy this course — £79.00 Bulk buy — any 3, 5 or 10 courses