AN osteopath has been removed from the register for misconduct by the regulator following her criminal conviction.
Michelle Davies of Worcester was removed from the register of osteopaths by the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC), it was announced on Thursday.
Davies, who practised out of English Mutual House on The Tything, continued to use the title on her website, www.worcester-osteo.com.
According to the website, she practices under a new professional title of Global Health & Wellbeing Consultant and Healing Facilitator.
The GOsC’s Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) found Michelle Davies guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. The Committee also found that her criminal conviction for unlawfully describing herself as an osteopath while she was suspended from the Register was relevant to her fitness to practise.
As part of the investigation, the PCC found that Michelle Davies provided incoherent and unintelligible documents and claims to the GOsC and that these documents would likely cause concern about the registrant and whether there was an issue of public safety and/or of the reputation of the profession.
The PCC also decided that the GOsC’s inquiry of Michelle Davies after receiving these documents was reasonable and complied with its legal duty, and that she was duty-bound to cooperate and respond appropriately, which she did not.
The PCC noted that Michelle Davies showed ‘no insight into the seriousness of her actions nor the consequences to the profession’.
The PCC therefore decided that it was in the public’s interest that Michelle Davies’ name be removed from the statutory Register of osteopaths, in order to uphold the professional standards of osteopathy and maintain public confidence in the profession.
Michelle Davies had 28 days to make an appeal. This period expired on July 2.
No appeal was made and her name was removed from the Register of osteopaths with effect from July 3.
The full report states that Davies between May 4, 2021 and October 3, 2021, submitted to the GOSC numerous documentation and claims that are incoherent and/or unintelligible.
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On October 3, 2022, Davies was convicted at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court of 'either expressly or by implication describing herself as an osteopath when suspended from the register of osteopaths, contrary to section 32 of the Osteopaths Act 1993.'
The report said that Davies, the registrant, at one stage asked at the professional misconduct hearing: "Was the private prosecution in conjunction with civil proceedings an act of revenge?"
Andrew Faux, representing the council, said 'he understood that to mean that the Registrant believed the GOsC had started criminal proceedings to gain the upper hand in the regulatory proceedings' and the GOsC motivated to ‘get her’?
The response was 'no absolutely not'.
We have approached Michelle Davies for comment. She said: "The criminal conviction similar to a driving offence, was spent within months of the conviction.
"If the GOSC followed magistrates private prosecution, pre-action protocol, they could not have brought the conviction to the court.
"Due process was not followed by the GOSC nor the court. I’m opening up in Harley Street, London, to serve the International demand as I’m inundated with enquiries for healing. Patients are travelling from The Highlands, Ireland, France, Wales and every county in England.
"It makes more sense for me to be in London to save people travelling so far. I have also been invited by a GP to set up a clinic in Dublin. 27 years without one patient or public complaint and serving over 55,000 consultations I do not need a title of Osteopath."
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