A Brief History of the College
The legislation underpinning the UK chiropractic profession, the Chiropractors' Act, received Royal ascent On 5th July 1994 and the Privy Council announced the membership of the General Chiropractic Council (GCC), the profession's registering body, on 28th January 1997.
During the intervening period, it became clear that the Act would not fulfil all the aspirations of the profession in terms of moving into the mainstream of healthcare; there was an obvious gap between the GCC as the registering body and the professional Associations acting as trade unions. This gap related to such areas as postgraduate education and training, research and specialisation.
On the advice of a senior medical figure, an organisational model similar to that of a Medical Royal College was devised. Thus, the College of Chiropractors was conceived during 1997 as an independent body to develop, encourage and maintain the highest possible standards of chiropractic practice for the benefit of patients.
Over the next couple of years the embryonic ‘College’ grew with a regional faculty infrastructure, the mainstay of the organisation, becoming firmly established in order to foster education locally. As an independent body, separate from any of the political groups, members were able to share information and expertise from all areas of the profession. On 28th April 1999, at the King’s Fund, the College of Chiropractors was formally launched.