For consent to be validated, it must be given voluntarily, and by an appropriately informed person with the capacity to do so. This guidance, which is supplemental to the Osteopathic Practice Standards, explains the law in the different UK countries.
We have produced some resources aimed at exploring patients’ expectations of osteopathic care, and the extent to which these were being met. Elements of communication underpin many of these expectations, which can be seen in both the full report and the summary version.
NCOR has a particularly helpful site which contains an extensive range of resources to support osteopaths, including some specific information on communicating risks and benefits.
The General Medical Council guidance on consent is extensive, and broken down on their website into different sections, including one on explaining side effects, complications and other risks and an overview of consent and the resources available to provide support in this respect.
Steven Vogel presents findings of the GOsC funded study ‘Clinical risks osteopathy and management’ (CROaM) and Pippa Bark (a research fellow with a background in psychology) who presents some useful tips about explaining risk to patients from a patient perspective).
