Clinic News

The latest updates from our Cheltenham chiropractic clinic

Cotswold Chiropractic aims to keep our patients up to date with our news and the latest updates in the world of chiropractic.

The Code of Professional Practice is published....

1st January 2024 by Gabrielle Swait

As a consultant in education and regulatory standards, I am delighted that, following 2 years of research, writing and public consultation work, the new Code of Professional Practice that I developed for the General Chiropractic Council was published just before midnight on 31/12/24. The document sets out the standards of conduct, performance and ethics that all chiropractors must meet in the UK. As set out in legislation, the new standards will come into force in 12 months time on 1st January 2026.

View the Code of Professional Practice here

Safety research publication...

23rd February 2023 by Gabrielle Swait

I am thrilled to see my latest research published in a scientific journal. This study analysed 10 years worth of data reported in an online system designed to identify all sorts of safety incidents that arise in chiropractic practice. My co-researchers and I investigated the way that the system is used by the profession and identified trends in the safety data collected that may enable measures to be taken to prevent similar issues from occurring in the future. After being anonymously peer-reviewed by other scientists (always an anxious wait for their decision) the study was accepted for publication in the international journal Chiropractic and Manual Therapies and went online last week.

View research article here

Our research reaches worldwide audience

12 October 2018 by Gabrielle Swait

My interest in research and in following the very best healthcare practices led me to carry out a study about communicating side effects and risks of care to patients, so that they can make informed choices about receiving care. In my role as Director of Research for the Royal College of Chiropractors, I conducted this literature study to try and help chiropractors, physiotherapists and osteopaths better understand the research that has been published about both common side effects (‘benign adverse events’) and extremely rare but potentially serious adverse effects of hands-on spine treatments.

Following an extensive search of medical and scientific research databases to try and identify all research that had been published, I read 250 research papers, before collating and summarising their findings. My research paper was written up to include bullet-pointed key findings that clinicians should note when working with patients. This lengthy process took over a year to complete and I was thrilled that the study was reviewed by experts (who described it as ‘an important piece of work’) and as a result was accepted for publication in a research journal. As a researcher, I can track how often the study is downloaded and read and am also alerted when another researcher references it in their own study. So far my research has been read as far afield as Taiwan, Russia, Australia, South Korea and the US; by physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths and researchers and is being referenced in other peoples published research papers.

Gabrielle Swait PhD, Clinic Director

Our case studies

We are dementia-friendly!

30 June 2018 by Gabrielle Swait

We are one of the very first chiropractic clinics to evaluate the design of our clinic environment, using a new tool, making changes that make it better for patients with dementia.

The number of people living with dementia who visit chiropractic clinics is increasing and the nature of clinic environments can make a big difference to the experience of people with dementia when they visit. The Royal College of Chiropractors recently commissioned a project, building on work by the King’s Fund, to create an assessment tool and guidance for chiropractic clinics. Cotswold Chiropractic was part of a small development group for the project and we carried out our clinic assessment using the very first pilot version of the tool.

We discovered that largely our clinic environment follows dementia-friendly design principles, but we did identify a number of things that we have done to help our patients with dementia feel more comfortable and oriented when they visit us, including:

Painting our stair rail bright green - strong contrasting colours make rails and handles more easily visible, therefore safer
Replacing signage to include arrows and images that point the way to the clinic
Ensuring that signs in the clinic include both writing and pictures - this makes it easier for people with dementia to understand signs
Placing signs on doors, rather than next to doors - this makes it easier for people with dementia to understand where they should go
Providing a specialist dementia clock in our reception - clear indication of day of the week, date and time help orientation and reduce confusion

Our changes have been really well-received by our patients and we have realised that they improve the clinic environment not just for our patients with dementia, but also for patients who are visually impaired and for all patients who are visiting us for the first time.

See how our team can help you.