Osteopathy in the UK: an healthcare profession

In the UK the parliament granted a full recognition of the osteopathic profession in 1993 with the Osteopaths Act, more than 70 years after the establishment of the first British osteopathic school by John Martin Littlejohn, in London. John Martin Littlejohn, an A. T. Still’s pupil, had previously studied, practiced and taught osteopathy in the US. He introduced the new science in the UK in the early Nineteenth Century. 

Through the Osteopaths Act the osteopathic profession has been recognised the same legal status as other healthcare professions including statutory self-regulation, therefore osteopathy has its own statute which regulates its practice. 

Osteopaths must register with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) in order to practice the profession in the UK. To be allowed to register with the GOsC a recognised qualification is required. The GOsC provides a list of recognised educational institutions and courses on their website which we have reproduced here.

Different routs to become an osteopath in the UK

The following is a list of all institutions currently authorised to provide osteopathic courses in the UK as recognised by the GOsC:

• The British College of Osteopathic Medicine, London
• The College of Osteopaths, London and Stoke on Trent
• The European School of Osteopathy, Kent
• The London College of Osteopathic Medicine (for medical doctors only), London
• The London School of Osteopathy, London
• NESCOT – validated by Kingston University – previously Surrey Institute of Osteopathic Medicine (SIOM), Surrey
• Swansea University, Swansea
• University College of Osteopathy, London
• The University of St Mark and St John, Plymouth (Marjon), Plymouth

These institutions provide either a Degree in Osteopathy (a BSc Hons, BOst or BOstMed) or a Master’s Degree (MOst) or both. Their courses will usually last 4 years full-time and 5 years part-time, with possible combinations of the two and accelerated course of study for students already possessing a degree in Medicine or Physical Therapy. Each qualification would normally include 1000 hours of clinical training.

The General Osteopathic Council also establishes the standards required by an educational institution to be recognised as an osteopathic training body. Such standards are checked periodically in order for the institution to maintain such a status.

Such standards are divided into the following nine categories:

• Programme design, delivery and assessment
• Programme governance, leadership and management
• Learning culture
• Quality evaluation, review and assurance
• Resources
• Students
• Clinical experience
• Staff support and development
• Patients¹

NOTES:

1. The source of this list is the GOsC website: https://www.osteopathy.org.uk/training-and-registering/becoming-an-osteopath/guidance-osteopathic-pre-registration-education/

Osteopathy schools

Discover all educational and training institutions in osteopathy. Osteopedia.com offers a list of the schools to become an osteopath in the UK.

See all schools