Safety and risk
Statutory regulation requires osteopaths to obtain
informed consent from patients before examination
and treatment –meaning that the patient must be
able to weigh the risks and benefits of osteopathic
treatment.
This requirement is set out in the Osteopathic
Practice Standards published by the General
Osteopathic Council:
osteopathy.org.uk/practice/standards-of-practice/
Consequently the profession has conducted
research into the safety of osteopathic treatment.
In 2010 NCOR published a systematic review looking
at adverse events in manual therapy, which found
that risks appear low for major events:
ncor.org.uk/adverse-events-studies/
In 2012 the CrOAM study, led by the British School
of Osteopathy, revealed that most osteopaths
favoured the establishment of a register for
adverse events:
osteopathy.org.uk/uploads/
croam_full_report_0313.pdf
In February 2014 NCOR’s survey of clinicians
revealed that osteopaths feel we should do more
research into the efficacy and risks associated with
osteopathic treatment.
NCOR PILARS provides osteopaths with a
completely anonymous forum to record adverse
events, and to discuss best practice with colleagues
in a supportive environment.
Help us to help osteopathy
ncor.org.uk/donate
NCOR regularly publishes evidence on the safety
and efficacy of osteopathy, for osteopaths to use in
promotional materials and in conversations with
patients and other healthcare practitioners.
We advise osteopaths and professional bodies
about evidence to support advertising claims.
ncorpilars.org.uk
We advise osteopathic researchers on how they
can produce robust evidence, so that osteopaths
can better meet their professional obligation to
inform patients of the risks and benefits associated
with treatment.
Your donation will help us continue this work,
ensuring osteopathy remains safe and effective
for all our patients.
Just £2 per month from
each UK osteopath
would significantly
improve our research
funding, allowing us
to generate robust
evidence for osteopathic
treatment and practice.
If one patient per week per UK osteopath donated
£1 to NCOR, this would triple our annual income.
Learn with your colleagues
Discuss and record incidents
Completely anonymous
How to use PILARS
PILARS is accessed using your web browser. Go to:
http://ncorpilars.org.uk
Login with the username “practitioner”:
Learning with others
about patient incidents
The Patient Incident Learning and
Reporting System (PILARS) has been
developed so that osteopaths can
anonymously share reports of adverse
events in their clinics, helping us all to
learn how to avoid these incidents.
Using PILARS, osteopaths throughout
the UK can safely discuss and learn from
adverse events, thereby improving the
care we provide for our patients.
This information is fed back
anonymously to osteopathic educational
and research institutes in order to
ensure that osteopathic practice
continuously evolves and improves.
PILARS is managed by the
National Council for Osteopathic
Research (NCOR).
The password is changed regularly; the latest
version is always available on the GOsC website (in
the o zone) and the Institute of Osteopathy website.
To report an incident, select “Submit reports” from
the menu at the top of the screen. You will need to
accept the terms and conditions of use, and you
should then select the appropriate incident type:
The first screen you see is a list of all reports:
You can then complete the incident report form:
Click the “view” button next to any report to see
that incident in detail:
Click the “Submit report” button when you have
completed the form.
To add more reports or comments, click the “User
area” button at the top of the screen. Click the
“Logout” button when finished.
At the bottom of each report is a comment box
where you can enter your thoughts on the incident: