Skip to main content

Text Size:

Text Size:

Chiropractor Login
Find a Chiropractor

By law all complaints received by the GCC must be considered by an Investigating Committee (consisting of both lay and registered members). Their role is not to decide on the details of the case, but decide whether there is a case to answer:

Would the conduct (if proven) be unacceptable professional conduct?

  • Is there enough evidence to make a case?
  • Is it in the public interest to consider the case?
  • Where they find a case to answer, it is put forward to a full hearing of the Professional Conduct Committee (around 12 cases a year).

While the majority of IC cases are closed with no further action without comment, occasionally the IC will find there is no case to answer, but nevertheless use the opportunity to provide advice to the registrant. This advice will not be recorded on the public register, as it is not a formal sanction, but the fact that advice was issued may be called upon if another complaint is made against the same registrant.

Background to the case

A chiropractor made a complaint that another chiropractor (the registrant) was making spurious claims in their advertising material. While the original complaint focused on specific comparisons of approach between the advertiser and other local chiropractors (which were not identified by name), it also came to light during the investigation that the registrant was claiming online that chiropractic treatment was effective for certain conditions outside of those listed in the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) CAP Code guidance.

When the registrant was made aware of the complaint they immediately removed the relevant claims from their website and social media presence.

The Code states that a chiropractor:

  • B3: You must ensure your advertising is legal, decent, honest and truthful as defined by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and conforms to their current guidance, such as the CAP Code.

Paragraph 15 of the GCC’s Guidance on Advertising (November 2021) (“the Guidance”) provides some clarification of what that means in the context of advertising by chiropractors as follows:

  • “For information contained in your advertising to be ‘verifiable’, you must be able to prove the accuracy of any claims made based on evidence in your possession at the time of advertising. This means you must be able to provide evidence supporting anything you say about yourself, your work and the results of the treatments or services offered.”

The Advertising Standards Authority’s CAP Code provides further guidance on advertising which makes comparison claims, in particular at paragraph 3.38, which states:

  • “Marketing communications that include a comparison with an unidentifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer. The elements of the comparison must not be selected to give the marketer an unrepresentative advantage.”

To help chiropractors stay within the law, the ASA list on their website the medical conditions that chiropractors can claim to treat in their advertising – where there is accepted to be the appropriate level of clinical evidence. This list was reviewed in 2023.

Any conditions that are not reflected in the list or where claims go beyond the specific conditions as described in the list would need to be supported by robust clinical evidence to support the claims.

Investigating Committee Finding

The Investigating Committee found that there was insufficient evidence of a breach of Principle B3 in relation to the comparison of approach between the chiropractor and other local clinics for the PCC to be able to make a finding of facts on the issue.

However, they did find that the chiropractor had made claims regarding the use of chiropractic to treat conditions not mentioned on the CAP list. In light of the fact that the offending claims were removed promptly, and that was no evidence of patients being misled by the claims, or other aggravating factors, the committee concluded that the breaches were minor and did not represent a falling far below the standard expected of a reasonable chiropractor.

The Investigating Committee concluded that there was no case to answer in respect of the complaint, but they chose to issue formal advice to the registrant:

“The Committee considered that the Registrant would be well advised to reflect on lessons they could learn from this complaint. In particular they should note carefully the provisions of the ASA CAP Code and the GCC’s Guidance on Advertising (November 2021) and avoid any advertising by their practice that might conflict with that guidance, or suggest that chiropractic might be effective for the treatment of any the conditions not listed in the Code without robust supporting clinical evidence.”

Learning

It is vital that all promotional material (not only “paid for advertising”) meets Standard B3 of the Code.

This applies whether you are preparing the material yourself or asking someone else to do it on your behalf.

Further Reading

From the Advertising Standards Authority: