Information Sheet for participating organisations

NCOR Project 3: Trends in insurance claims and patient complaints to the regulator

The National Council for Osteopathic Research (NCOR) has awarded funding to the CONDOR collaboration to conduct this research study. CONDOR combines two universities and two osteopathic training schools: the University of Brighton, the University of Greenwich, the European School of Osteopathy, and the College of Osteopaths.

Aims and purpose of research

The aim of the research is to collect information about the number of complaints and claims concerning osteopaths that have occurred over the past 10 years, and

investigate trends. The research will also try to understand the circumstances leading to complaints, particularly those alleging adverse reactions to treatment, with a view to reduction of complaints in future.

The study will collate existing data held by the regulator GOsC and the four indemnity Insurers (Balens, MIA, Three Counties and Howden). Preliminary

information about other possible sources such as osteopathic college clinics, firms of litigation solicitors, private healthcare insurers, trade union Amicus and the

professional body, British Osteopathic Association (BOA) will also be collected to assess the full extent of potential data on complaints over the past 10 years or more. Your participation

We would like to invite your organisation to participate in the study. Participation is entirely voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time. If you agree to participate, please sign and return the enclosed Consent Form.

What will I be asked to do?

The Principal Investigator for the project, Dr Janine Leach, or the Research Officer for the project, Adam Fiske, will contact you for initial discussions to establish what data you hold, the period it covers, and how much and in what form you may be able to provide it for the research. All the data we require will be anonymous with respect to the osteopath and the patients’ identity.

The first data required for the study is a log of all complaints and claims, including formal complaints, informal complaints, and incidents which do not progress at all. We would like to identify each one by a unique ID code, and create a spreadsheet which categorises them by type, data, and outcome. After discussions with you, the dataset (Appendix 1) will be piloted to ensure it provides the information required. Secondly, in order to gain as much understanding as possible of the circumstances leading to the complaint occurring and progressing, we would like to interview the person(s) in your organisation who deal directly with the people involved in a case.

115

We have called this member of your staff an Intermediary. The interview will take about one hour and will be tape-recorded. The interview will be exploratory and gather facts and typical stories of how different types of complaint progress. Dissemination of results

The main outputs from the study will be three reports. The Final Report of the project will be a formal report of the full results of the project. A Lay Report will summarise the main messages in language accessible to a lay audience. A Report for practising osteopaths will include discussion of prevention of complaints. The reports will be disseminated widely, and the results of the study presented to scientific, professional and lay audiences orally, electronically and in print.

We anticipate that the reports and dissemination strategy will inform the profession, educators, insurers and the public of the findings and promote respect for the

osteopathic profession.

Possible risks to your organisation

We are confident that the data requested will not reveal the identity of any subject. The results disseminated from the study will be fully anonymised with respect to the patients, the osteopaths and the organisations providing the data. All data and records of interview will be securely stored at the University of Brighton, will only be seen by the researchers, and will be destroyed when the research is completed.

The only identifier within the “spreadsheet” dataset is the first 2 digits of postcode. The stories which may be told at interview will be anonymised and will not be

reported verbatim. An interpretive approach will be used to summarise and generalise the interview data and the final reports will not contain any individual patients’ stories.

Conduct of the research

The research funding has been made available by the General Osteopathic Council. The conduct of the research is being overseen by a Steering Group comprising representatives of the General Osteopathic Council, the NCOR Grants Governance Committee, the Insurers and a User representative. We also have a legal advisor, Paul Grant, and an ethics advisor, Professor Julie Stone. The protocol for the research has been scrutinised and approved by the University of Brighton Faculty of Health and Social Science Research Ethics and Governance Committee.

If you have concerns regarding the conduct of the research, you can contact one of the following people:

Principal Investigator, Dr Janine Leach, Senior Research Fellow in Osteopathy, University of Brighton

Tel 01273 643457

Professor Ann Moore, Clinical Research Centre for Health Professions, University of Brighton, 49 Darley Road, Eastbourne BN20 7UR

116