The National Council for Osteopathic Research (NCOR) runs an app on behalf of the UK profession that measures our performance. The app is an osteopathic version of a Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) which is a type of patient survey widely used across the healthcare professions.
So far, almost 5000 adult osteopathic patients have completed the survey. They range in age from 18-90, 66% are employed while 25% are retired, and 62% of them are women. As you might expect, 56% present with low back pain, but often there is more than one reason for seeing an osteopath. Pain and lack of mobility are key drivers, along with ongoing management of chronic conditions, such as arthritic pain.
Over 70% of patients said they were seen by an osteopath within three days. 93% said that their experience of osteopathic care was very good and if we add in the ‘fairly good’ responses, it rises to 99%. 90% of patients also said they were very satisfied (98% if the ‘fairly satisfied’ group are included). 71% of patients said they were much improved or completely recovered six weeks after treatment. Quite impressive outcome scores!
The PROM also asks patients to say whether they would be to recommend osteopathy to friends and family and 93% said they were likely or very likely to recommend us.
There is always room for improvement but it is heartening to see such an overwhelmingly positive response to our work. So proud to be an osteopath!
As well as the PROM, which we can give you an access code for if you would like to contribute your thoughts, it really helps if you give us feedback via Google reviews.