Connecting Patients, Practitioners and Regulators in Supporting Positive Experiences and Processes of Shared Decision-Making: A Case Study in Co-production

This chapter describes a project in osteopathy exploring how regulators can support shared decision-making by positively promoting good practice rather than by way of traditionally adopted methods based on fitness to practice and disciplinary action. The project is built in part on a background development programme in values-based osteopathy. The regulator (the General Osteopathic Council), osteopaths and patients worked together co-productively in a series of workshops to develop support resources for shared decision-making based on what is important to the individual patient in question. Central to the project was an emerging understanding of the cultural values of osteopathy as a profession and how these impact on their practice. A summary of and links to the resources produced by the project are included. The chapter starts with a case narrative (the story of ‘Jennifer’) adapted from one used in the background development programme.