Within a news article on the General Chiropractic Council’s website today, the General Chiropractic Council (“GCC”) have reminded registrants of the requirement to make a declaration to them within seven days if they have been arrested or charged in connection with any criminal offence. As readers will be aware, the GCC is the statutory regulator of Chiropractors within the United Kingdom (“UK”) and Chiropractors are unable to provide chiropractic care to patients in the UK without being registered with the GCC.
Whilst publishing such a reminder is not unusual for regulatory bodies, the fact that the GCC have also reminded registrants to be professional when conversing with GCC staff members suggests the regulator has become concerned by registrants’ recent behaviour when subject to Fitness to Practise investigations. This was indeed the case at present and the GCC confirmed that concerns regarding the attitude of a particular registrant and “specifically their use of derogatory language questioning the legitimacy of the process” had been raised by the Investigation Committee. On this specific note, the GCC reminded registrants of their obligations under Standard B9 to cooperate with the GCC when asked for information.
Whilst the GCC are not the first regulator to directly address a registrant’s behaviour or attitude towards staff working in the Fitness to Practise Directorate, it is not usual practice and suggests the GCC are taking a hard line to address and eradicate this behaviour. As registrants of any regulator will be aware, there is a professional duty to cooperate with a regulator at all times and this may include providing documents or giving evidence against a colleague or fellow practitioner during a Fitness to Practise Hearing. Therefore, and during all communication and correspondence with a regulator, whether your own or another, practitioners must be polite, act professional at all times, and provide their full cooperation. Failure to do so could result in a Fitness to Practise investigation being raised against you.
If you are a Chiropractor subject to a Fitness to Practise investigation or another registered Healthcare practitioner requiring assistance in connection with a Fitness to Practise investigation and require legal assistance, please call Ridouts on 020 7317 0340 or email at info@ridout-law.com .
