Professional Standards Authority commends GCC for protecting patients during pandemic
GCC meets 17/18 Standards of Good Regulation for 2020/21
01.12.21
The General Chiropractic Council (GCC) has been commended for its response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic while maintaining a clear focus on protecting patients, according to the latest Professional Standards Authority’s (PSA) review of its performance.
In its 2020/21 performance assessment of the regulator, the PSA noted the GCC’s:
- ‘pragmatic and proportionate approach’ in developing Covid-19 guidance to help registrants provide safe and effective care during the pandemic
- flexibility in how educational providers could assess students while fully maintaining the agreed Education Standards
- encouragement for registrants to adopt remote and informal learning opportunities, allowing them to maintain their Continuing Professional Development requirements
- effective use of technology to reduce the pandemic’s impact on its core functions, including online Fitness to Practise hearings, quality assurance visits and Council and committee meetings.
The PSA also noted the GCC’s work to identify and act on misleading advertising claims that chiropractic could prevent or treat Covid-19. This work has been continued with the development of registrant toolkits, providing GCC/Advertising Standards Authority compliant guidance and advice on a range of marketing and communications content activities, such as advertising, social media and messaging and websites.
The PSA recognised the GCC’s continuing efforts on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), including publication of its draft EDI policy and the use of Equality Impact Assessments. However, the PSA concluded that weaknesses still existed within this Standard.
Commenting on the latest review of its performance, Nick Jones, GCC Chief Executive and Registrar, said,
“I welcome the latest independent assessment from the PSA and their recognition that the GCC has stepped up and met the challenges created by the ongoing pandemic.
“I am also pleased that the PSA recognised our ongoing work around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, although disappointed that we have yet to meet the required standard. In response, we will continue to further weave and embed equality considerations within all our work, as emphasised in our new GCC Strategy 2022-2024 published last month.
“We will press on with delivering our EDI Action Plan for 2022, addressing the concerns of the PSA and ensure that we assess the potential impact of our policy work, collect data on our key activities, act on the insight the data offers and understand any differential outcomes, thereby changing how we do our work.”
The PSA review of performance is conducted annually with all ten UK healthcare regulators. Based on 18 Standards of Good Regulation under five categories, the GCC achieved:
General Standards 4/5
Guidance and Standards 5/5
Education and Training 2/2
Registration 4/4
Fitness to Practise 5/5