Osteopathy website design written within the rules on claims and titles

Your pages, the features on them, the final price and the timescale, in writing before you pay a deposit. Hosting, care and any ongoing SEO are listed separately, so you can see what is one-off and what is monthly. On the Business package the first year of hosting and care is included.

That you are an osteopath on the GOsC register, without the title Dr unless you hold a general medical qualification. The ASA's advice for osteopaths says patients are likely to read Dr or Doctor as a medical qualification, so osteopaths without one should avoid it. If you hold a PhD, the GOsC's standards say you should make that clear. The ASA's PhD advice says a relevant PhD or doctorate is likely to be acceptable as Dr with the suffix PhD, that in health marketing the ASA would likely expect it qualified at once with a line that you hold no general medical qualification, and that the safest course is not to use the title. These rules apply across the UK.

Within limits. The ASA's 2016 review says osteopaths may make claims to treat pregnant women, children and babies "provided they are qualified to do so", but not conditions or symptoms presented as specific to those groups. Its osteopathy advice adds that claims about symptoms understood as specific to babies, children or pregnant women, such as colic or morning sickness, are unlikely to be acceptable without a robust body of evidence, and it has ruled against osteopaths' websites that made them. The review lists wording it is likely to accept, such as "Osteopaths treat people of all ages" and "Pregnancy can cause general aches and pains including joint and back pain and osteopathy could help", and says the same applies to patient testimonials.

It helps: "osteopath vs chiropractor" alone is searched about 3,600 times a month in the UK (Google, checked 3 November 2026). Describe what your appointments involve, such as manual therapy, exercise and self-management advice, rather than ranking the professions. The GOsC's standards say comments about other healthcare professionals should be honest, valid and accurate, and any condition you name still comes from the ASA's list for osteopaths. The title rules differ too: a chiropractor's website may use Doctor of Chiropractic as a qualified courtesy title, while an osteopath's should avoid Dr.

Only those on the GOsC register, whether their registration is full, conditional or provisional. Under section 32 of the Osteopaths Act 1993, which applies across the UK, describing yourself as an osteopath or any other kind of osteopath, expressly or by implication, is an offence unless you are registered. Implying it counts: the GOsC has prosecuted a non-registered person who implied they were an osteopath on their website, and it and the ASA treat unregistered people aligning themselves with the title as misleading. So if a sports massage therapist works with you, their profile should name their own qualification and leave the word osteopathic out.

The GOsC tells patients that a missing result does not necessarily mean an osteopath is unregistered: the name may be spelt differently or may have changed. Patients can search by town or postcode, surname or registration number, and your entry shows your registration number and the years you qualified and registered. Put your name exactly as the register has it, and your number, on your profile, so a patient can search by either.

It should say what you can confirm and send the rest to the insurer. The GOsC tells patients that most major private health insurers cover osteopathy, but that they need to ask their own insurer about the level of cover, whether a GP or specialist referral is needed first, and whether their osteopath is covered. Your fees page lists each appointment with its length and price, how to pay and your cancellation terms, names only the insurers that recognise you, and points insured patients to those three questions. The GOsC's standards note that clear, visible fee information helps avoid disputes.