Consultation on a new Chiropractic Quality Standard: Low Back Pain and Sciatica

Quality Standards are tools designed to help deliver the best possible outcomes for patients. They are a series of specific, concise quality statements with associated measures that provide aspirational, but achievable, markers of high-quality patient care covering the treatment of different conditions. They also play an important part in addressing the increasing priority being placed on improving quality and patient outcomes.

The Royal College of Chiropractors (RCC) announces the launch of a consultation on a draft RCC Low Back Pain & Sciatica Quality Standard which updates, combines and replaces the previous Quality Standards on Chronic Low Back Pain and Acute Low Back Pain. The views of all stakeholders including interested organisations, chiropractors, other healthcare professionals, patients and the public are sought.

Comments are invited on any aspect of the document including its relevance and applicability to the chiropractic profession, the achievability of the standards described in the quality statements, the utility of the quality statements in terms of promoting best care, the document’s accuracy and validity in terms of the evidence base and the clarity of the content to practitioners, patients and other stakeholders.

Any comments must be submitted by the deadline of 12 noon on Friday 2nd August 2024 using the consultation form provided. Comments will inform the production of the final version of the quality standard which will be widely publicised.

You can read the draft document and participate in the consultation here

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Chiropractic Practice Standard: Clinical Record Keeping

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Chiropractic Practice Standard: Clinical Record Keeping

The Royal College of Chiropractors’ Chiropractic Practice Standards are evidence-based documents designed to help chiropractors meet their obligations in the provision of patient care and/or the governance of their services. For each area of practice, they:

  • Highlight relevant elements of the General Chiropractic Council’s Code, and relevant legislation, as requirements;
  • Provide expected standards of practice informed by the evidence;
  • Provide additional helpful guidance; and
  • Provide a benchmark for normal practice.

The RCC’s new Chiropractic Practice Standard on Clinical Record Keeping, formally launched today, focuses on the principles and expected standards of clinical record keeping in a chiropractic care setting and aims to assist chiropractors to achieve those standards.

Consultation – Chiropractic Practice Standard: Clinical Record Keeping

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CONSULTATION – Chiropractic Practice Standard: Clinical Record Keeping

The Royal College of Chiropractors’ Chiropractic Practice Standards are evidence-based documents designed to help chiropractors meet their obligations in the provision of patient care and/or the governance of their services. For each area of practice, they:

  • Highlight relevant elements of the General Chiropractic Council’s Code, and relevant legislation, as requirements;
  • Provide expected standards of practice informed by the evidence;
  • Provide additional helpful guidance; and
  • Provide a benchmark for normal practice.

This new Chiropractic Practice Standard focuses on the principles and expected standards of clinical record keeping in a chiropractic care setting and aims to assist chiropractors to achieve those standards. The RCC now wishes to consult on the content of the draft document.

The consultation is aimed, in particular, at the chiropractic profession, but the RCC is also keen to hear from other health professionals, health & care organisations, commissioners, patients and the public. It particularly wishes obtain views on the following questions:

  1. Have we identified all the relevant requirements of chiropractors in the context of clinical record keeping
  2. Do the expected standards of practice reflect normal practice and have we included the appropriate evidence to support them? Is anything missing?
  3. Should we include any additional guidance?
  4. Are our statements clearly expressed such that chiropractors, other health professionals, health & care organisations, commissioners, patients and public can reasonably be expected to understand what we mean?

The consultation document and response form are available here:

Clinical Record Keeping Consultation Document

Consultation Response Form

Deadline for receipt of responses: 5pm, Friday 19th May 2023

The consultation has now closed

Outcomes for Chiropractic Graduates

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Outcomes for Chiropractic Graduates: Consultation on draft document – now closed

The Forum of Chiropractic Deans (FCD) is a group comprising the leaders of the UK’s chiropractic education programmes, and the Royal College of Chiropractors. It has the primary objective of harmonising chiropractic undergraduate education and training outcomes in the UK.

The FCD has produced a draft document entitled Outcomes for Chiropractic Graduates which seeks to define the knowledge, skills and competencies of newly qualified chiropractors in the UK. This document is intended to:

  • Provide a clear framework for new and established programme providers in terms of core curriculum design, helping them produce graduates whose knowledge, skills and competencies meet the needs of the profession.
  • Enable chiropractic students to understand what they will need to know and be able to do at the point of graduation, thus enabling them to play an active role in directing their own learning.
  • Facilitate the identification of knowledge, skills and competencies that are postgraduate/relate to special interests.
  • Enable patients, the public, health professionals, health & care organisations and commissioners to understand and recognise what chiropractors know and are able to do.
  • Ensure postgraduate trainers and employers have a clear understanding and clear expectations of graduates’ attributes and can support and facilitate a smooth transition to autonomous professional practice.
  • Help enable those returning to practice to identify and address professional learning needs.
  • Help enable overseas graduates to recognise the knowledge, skills and competencies required for professional practice in the UK.

The FCD now wishes to consult widely with the UK chiropractic profession, but is also keen to hear from other health professionals, health & care organisations, commissioners, patients and the public. It particularly wishes obtain views on the following questions:

  1. Have we identified all the core competencies required of a recently graduated chiropractor? If not, what’s missing?
  2. Have we included competencies that you consider are not core? If so, please specify.
  3. Are the core competencies clearly expressed such that chiropractors, other health professionals, health & care organisations, commissioners, patients and public can reasonably be expected to understand what we mean?

The consultation document is available for review here.

To participate in the consultation, please download and complete the

Consultation response form

and return it to admin@rcc-uk.org by the deadline of 5pm on Friday 6th May 2022.