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The General Chiropractic Council (GCC) has approved its new Education Standards, placing greater emphasis on the safety and care of patients. Once fully integrated throughout all approved chiropractic courses, the Standards will ensure chiropractic graduates are equipped with the latest knowledge and skills to appraise and treat patients independently in professional practice.

The new Education Standards also include an increased focus on multi-disciplinary learning and working; further integrating chiropractic into the wider healthcare professions while providing the best care and outcomes for their patients.

The Standards, which include detailed expectations of outcomes for academic providers, now have Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) conditions throughout, a move designed to ensure EDI is a built-in component of academic programmes.

Sharon Oliver, Chair of the Education Committee of the GCC, said:
"In delivering these new Education Standards, the GCC has prioritised the overall care and safety of patients, be it through advanced evidence-based chiropractic skills and learning, multi-disciplinary cooperation or equality, equity and inclusion for all patients.

"All regulated healthcare professions must have the highest educational standards and requirements to allow registrants to practise safely and work together for the overall benefit of patients. Our new Education Standards achieve this outcome exactly."

The Patient Perspective

In developing the new Education Standards, the GCC engaged with the public to establish their views and expectations on what a chiropractor should provide to their patients. Key findings found that patients expected:

  • Proficient manual care skills from chiropractors
  • Advice and guidance on rehabilitation exercises and being supported to self-manage their musculoskeletal conditions
  • Good communication skills from chiropractors with patients wanting to 'be heard, not just listened to'
  • That patient needs were understood and placed first and foremost in their treatment.
  • New chiropractors to understand and implement the best evidence into their care. Indeed, they 'took this as given'.  

Publication of the Education Standards follows two years of review and work, including a wide-ranging consultation with submissions from chiropractic associations, registrants, students and patients. The new Education Standards will be delivered to the UK's five academic providers for implementation throughout 2023 and beyond.

Notes to Editors

  • The General Chiropractic Council (GCC) is an independent statutory body for the chiropractic profession. Created under the 1994 Chiropractors Act, the GCC’s purpose is to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of chiropractic patients and the public. 
  • The GCC is the smallest of the ten healthcare regulators under the Professional Standard Authority, with about 3,500 chiropractors on its register.

For more information, contact education@gcc-uk.org at the General Chiropractic Council.