Consent – it’s not just about risk

Posted by Mint

In the last blog we spent time understanding the history of consent and the complete switch in the focus of consent since 2015. If you missed it, watch the video on facebook or see the previous post. Consent is the most important aspect of practice In my opinion gaining consent is the most important aspect to osteopathic treatment. It doesn’t matter if you are the most amazing osteopath with incredible premises if you practice without gaining valid consent you are both ethically and legally deficient. Good communication is fundamental to Continue Reading »

Who is Nadine Montgomery and why should you care?

Posted by Mint

If you have never heard of Nadine Montgomery she is fundamental to the current law on consent. She is not a doctor or a lawyer or a politician she is a patient. This is her story: Nadine’s story Nadine Montgomery was a woman with diabetes who gave birth by vaginal delivery. What is significant about this delivery was that her baby Sam was born with serious disabilities after shoulder dystocia during delivery. The doctor, Dina McLellan did not tell Nadine Montgomery about the 9-10% risk of shoulder dystocia. Why not? Continue Reading »

The new Mint Folder – What’s changed?

Posted by Mint

1. The order The folder is now arranged within each of the four themes. The new standards have a much more logical flow so topical standards and guidance are now gathered together under one theme. This means it is no longer necessary to have the Mint Folder arranged by topics. Keeping the order by theme will also help with implementing the new CPD scheme. You will be able to quickly identify where work on a particular area of practice aligns with a theme of the OPS. 2. CPD suggestions There Continue Reading »

What’s changed in the 2018 Osteopathic Practice Standards?

Posted by Mint

The new Osteopathic Practice Standards have just been issued. They have a 1 year introductory phase before they become the legal standards in September 2019. Mint has studied the standards in detail looking at what’s changed, what’s gone, and what’s new. This article will provide an overview of the changes. The new standards look quite different. There are fewer standards 37 down to 29. They have been moved around and the whole document has been made a lot more logical. Historically there were two documents published separately – the code Continue Reading »

GDPR Myths and Questions #4 – Explicit Consent

Posted by Mint

Why we don’t think explicit consent is necessary. There are some sources advising osteopaths that they must get patients to sign that they can give you their health data. At Mint we think that obtaining explicit consent for collecting health data is unnecessary (and so does the Incormation Commissioner’s Office) and here is why: Explicit consent is not appropriate for health data because it is not possible for patients to withdraw consent. If a patient does not consent to their data being processed in the clinic the osteopath is unable Continue Reading »

GDPR Myths and Questions #3 – Consent and Lawful basis

Posted by Mint

You need to identify the lawful basis you are using for processing someone’s personal data – i.e. your justification for processing that data. There are 6 different lawful bases that you may use, for any given set of data. One of these is consent, but there are others too – e.g. ‘contract’ (valid if someone’s personal data needs to be processed to fulfil your contractual obligations, or because they’ve asked you to do something before entering into a contract, such as provide information). This is completely separate from your consent Continue Reading »

GDPR Myths and Questions #2

Posted by Mint

Another GDPR question and a concern.. To encrypt or not to encrypt? A question has been raised whether passwords are sufficient or do you need to encrypt your computers and phone? I think I would first of all wind back a bit and ask whether you have secure passwords on all your devices? If you don’t then that is your first plan of action. There are detailed arguments for and against encryption but I would make sure you have good security in place anyway before you even begin to consider Continue Reading »

GDPR Myths and Questions #1

Posted by Mint

This is the start of a weekly series of blog posts answering some of your questions and addressing some of the myths around GDPR. I’ll be posting some memes and a brief video on facebook each week too, summarising this information. So let’s get straight to this weeks items: 1) Yes you do have to comply with GDPR – 25th May 2018, the law comes into force for everyone. I’ve seen people quote part of the GDPR stating that because we have less than 250 people in our organisations we Continue Reading »

Is the ASA really that bad?

Posted by Mint

Many of you will have heard of the ongoing case of Nicholas Handol and his ongoing breach of the advertising code which has culminated in a hearing before the General Osteopathic Council Professional Conduct Committee.  It is not appropriate for me to comment on this case.  There has been wide discussion of the case and misunderstandings of GOsC and their relationship to the ASA. I thought it would be helpful to discuss the ASA and it’s relationship to Osteopaths. Who are the ASA? “The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the Continue Reading »

Considering Regulatory Reform

Posted by Mint

The government consultation on Regulatory Reform in Healthcare is open until 23rd January and you are free to have your say: Promoting Professionalism, Reforming Regulation https://consultations.dh.gov.uk/professional-regulation/regulatory-reform/ This consultation is extremely important for healthcare professionals and something you should be keeping a watchful eye on. There are currently 9 healthcare regulators in the UK, and around 1.5 million healthcare professionals. The number of professionals regulated by each regulator varies from a few 1000 to almost 700 000. Each of the regulators has common aims in terms of protecting the public, setting Continue Reading »