Ethics and Ethical Standards for Chiropractors

This ethics course for chiropractors starts with the questions that come up in clinic every day. How much should a patient be told about the rare risks of neck manipulation? Is it right to offer maintenance care when the evidence for it is limited? What should happen when a 15-year-old asks for treatment without a parent, or when an older patient with dementia seems unsure what is being proposed? How should you respond when a treatment goes wrong?

Ethics and Ethical Standards for Chiropractors works through these questions using the GCC's Code of Professional Practice, which took effect on 1 January 2026. It is self-paced, takes about 2 hours including reflection and the assessment, and is written only for chiropractors, so every case is set in a chiropractic clinic.

Who it is for

• Chiropractors registered with the General Chiropractic Council.
• Chiropractors responding to an ethical or fitness to practise concern.
• Clinic owners and associates reviewing consent, care plans, pricing and marketing against the 2026 Code.

1. Ethics in chiropractic practice. The four principles, how ethical expectations of the profession changed after the Chiropractors Act 1994 and the 2009 to 2010 wave of complaints about claims, the GCC's role, and a six-step approach to dilemmas.
2. Core principles applied to manual therapy. Informed consent after Montgomery, including material risks for a particular patient; beneficence and overtreatment; non-maleficence and red-flag screening; justice and access to private care; confidentiality; and honesty about evidence, uncertainty and maintenance care.
3. GCC standards and guidance. The Code's four values and ten principles (A to J), safety, communication and trust, CPD and reflection requirements, and how the GCC handles complaints.
4. Integrity, advertising and candour. Honest explanations of findings, advertising under the CAP Code and ASA guidance, the duty of candour under standard C11, and accurate records.
5. Patient-centred care and shared decisions. Communication about touch and clothing, consent for whole treatment plans, keeping care plans separate from payment plans, vulnerable patients, safeguarding, capacity and children's consent across the UK nations.
6. Professional boundaries. The power imbalance in hands-on care, conflicts of interest such as product commission and "plan conversion" targets, online boundaries, and managing inappropriate behaviour from patients.
7. Breaches and remediation. Common breaches, consequences, the GCC investigation process and sanctions, and remediation that demonstrates insight.

The course links each ethical principle to specific Code standards, so you can cite the standard in a reflection or a response to a concern:

The course also covers standard C10, which requires clinical care plans to be kept separate from financial payment plans with clear refund terms, and C9 on conflicts of interest. The law sections cover the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, Gillick competence and the Equality Act 2010. Check the GCC's current Code and guidance, which take precedence. Our GCC guide summarises what the regulator expects.

For CPD. The GCC requires at least 30 hours of CPD each year, at least 15 of them learning with others, and an online CPD summary by 31 August with reflection specific to each activity. This course is self-directed learning: it can count towards your 30 hours, but not towards the 15 hours with others unless you complete it as part of an interactive group session. Discussing the course dilemmas with colleagues is a simple way to turn it into learning with others. The GCC also asks registrants not to rely on AI to write generic reflections, so write yours from your own experience.

For remediation. The GCC's committees weigh insight, accountability, remediation and cooperation when deciding outcomes, which range from admonishment to conditions of practice, suspension or removal. The course's own example is a chiropractor found to have failed to explain the risks of neck manipulation. He completes targeted learning on consent, introduces a structured consent discussion with a leaflet, asks a colleague to audit thirty records over six months, and writes a reflection on why he had assumed patients did not want to hear about rare risks. The audit, not the certificate, shows the change.

Pair the course with the insight course and the reflective practice course if you need to show understanding in writing, and the remediation course if you need a full plan. The reflective statement builder helps you structure a reflection in your own words. Take advice from your professional association, indemnity provider or representative before you submit anything to the GCC.

• Learning time: about 2 hours, including reading, reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment.
• Format: self-paced reading with chiropractic dilemmas, case illustrations and comparison tables.
• Assessment: 15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions, pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%).
• Certificate: a certificate of completion from Healthcare Practise UK and a reflective record for your GCC CPD summary.

Healthcare Practise UK is an independent provider. This course is not approved or endorsed by any UK regulator, and it does not replace your regulator's standards, legal advice or advice from your defence organisation, union or indemnity provider.

For a conduct concern, the remediation pathway adds this course to the pack on the conduct and trust page. The course catalogue lists every course, and Which course do I need? suggests a starting point based on your regulator and concern.