The General Optical Council (GOC) has launched a consultation on introducing formal fitness to practise acceptance criteria.
The draft criteria would define the circumstances where the GOC will accept a complaint as an allegation of a registrant’s impaired fitness to practise. Those that do not meet the criteria would be closed without referral to GOC Case Examiners.
Lisa Davis, GOC director of fitness to practise, explained: “These acceptance criteria would give us a transparent process for closing non-fitness to practise complaints quickly. This might include minor clinical or consumer concerns which could not call into question a practitioner’s fitness to practise. A formal process for closing complaints that do not raise concerns regarding a registrant’s fitness to practise, will allow us to improve transparency and consistency, and therefore the effectiveness of our processes.”
The GOC is encouraging its stakeholders to reply to the consultation before the deadline of 9 March 2018. The consultation is available at https://www.optical.org/en/get-involved/consultations/index.cfm