UK Osteopath Register Scraper

Verify UK-registered osteopaths against the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) official public register at osteopathy.org.uk. Search by postcode/town, surname, or practice features (disabled access, home visits, Welsh spoken) — or look up an exact GOsC registration number — to confirm whether an osteopath is currently registered and legally able to practise in the UK. No login, no cookies, no paid proxy required.

What this actor does

• Two lookup modes: browse/filter the register, or exact registration-number lookup
• Search by any combination of: postcode or town (with a configurable radius for postcode searches), surname, disabled access, home visits, Welsh spoken
• Browse the entire register — leave all filters blank to page through every currently-registered osteopath
• Full result-set pagination — follows the register's own paging so large matches are returned in full (bounded only by maxItems)
• Multiple practice addresses per osteopath — many osteopaths practise at more than one clinic; every practice they are listed at is captured (address, opening hours, home visits, disabled access, Welsh spoken, website)
• Empty fields are never included — only real, extracted data is emitted

Output per osteopath

• registrantId — GOsC internal registrant identifier
• registrationNumber — unique GOsC registration number
• name — full name as shown on the register (with courtesy title)
• gender
• practisingStatus — e.g. Fully Registered
• dateOfRegistration — date first joined the register (ISO YYYY-MM-DD)
• qualifications — post-nominal qualifications (e.g. DO, BSc (Hons) Ost)
• placeOfTraining — institution where the osteopath trained
• qualificationDate — month/year of qualification (ISO YYYY-MM)
• contactNumber — personal contact phone number, when published on the register
• email — personal contact email address, when published on the register
• practiceCount — number of practices this osteopath is listed at
• practices[] — one entry per practice: name, practiceUrl, address, postcode, openingHours, email, phone, website, homeVisits (boolean), disabledAccess (boolean), welshSpoken (boolean)
• sourceUrl — direct link to the official GOsC register entry
• recordType, scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	select	search	search (browse/filter) or byRegistrationNumbers (exact lookup)
location	string	London	UK postcode or town/city name (mode=search). Leave blank to browse the whole register
radius	select	10mi	5mi / 10mi / 25mi / 50mi — only applies when location is a postcode
surname	string	–	Filter to osteopaths whose surname contains this text
disabilityAccess	boolean	false	Only return osteopaths practising where disabled access is available
homeVisit	boolean	false	Only return osteopaths who offer home visits
welshSpoken	boolean	false	Only return osteopaths practising where Welsh is spoken
registrationNumbers	array	["1766"]	Exact GOsC registration numbers (mode=byRegistrationNumbers)
maxItems	integer	20	Maximum number of osteopath records to return (1–2000)

Example: search osteopaths near a postcode

{
  "mode": "search",
  "location": "SW1A 1AA",
  "radius": "10mi",
  "maxItems": 25
}

Example: filter by surname and practice features

{
  "mode": "search",
  "surname": "Smith",
  "homeVisit": true,
  "disabilityAccess": true,
  "maxItems": 25
}

Example: look up exact registration numbers

{
  "mode": "byRegistrationNumbers",
  "registrationNumbers": ["1766", "7065", "8596"]
}

Use cases

• Employers & clinics verifying a candidate osteopath's registration status before hiring
• Patients confirming their osteopath is legitimately registered with the GOsC
• Insurers cross-checking practitioner registration numbers
• Researchers analysing the geographic distribution, qualifications, or training institutions of UK osteopaths
• Directory builders enriching a UK health-practitioner dataset with official register data

FAQ

Is this official data? Yes — every record is scraped live from the General Osteopathic Council's own public register search at osteopathy.org.uk/register-search/. This is the same register the GOsC itself uses to let the public verify osteopaths.

Do I need an account, login, or cookies? No. The register search is fully public; no login or paid proxy is required.

What if my search returns 0 results? Check the spelling of the surname/postcode, widen the radius, or remove filters. The actor sets a clear status message when a search or lookup finds no matches.

Why do some osteopaths have more than one entry in practices[]? Many osteopaths work across multiple clinics. Every practice location currently listed against that osteopath on the register is captured in the practices[] array.

Can I look up multiple registration numbers at once? Yes — set mode to byRegistrationNumbers and pass an array of registration numbers.

Why do sourceUrl and practices[].practiceUrl return a blank/challenge page with a plain HTTP request (e.g. curl)? The GOsC register-search pages sit behind a JavaScript security check. They render correctly and instantly in any real browser (which is exactly how this actor reads them) but a plain HTTP client without JavaScript will see an interstitial instead of the page content. This does not affect the actor's own output — only manual curl/wget checks of these specific URLs.

How long does a run take? Each osteopath record requires solving a JavaScript security check, so expect roughly 5-10 seconds per osteopath. For runs with a large maxItems, allow a generous run timeout (the platform default is usually sufficient, but very large runs — 100+ records — may need the timeout increased in Actor run settings).