GOC introduces Acceptance Criteria policy

 

The General Optical Council (GOC) has today published its new fitness to practise Acceptance Criteria.

The Acceptance Criteria are a case management tool for the GOC Fitness to Practise (FTP) team to help decide whether or not to accept a complaint as an allegation of impaired fitness to practise.

If a complaint does not meet the Acceptance Criteria, the GOC will not open an investigation into whether the registrant’s fitness to practise is impaired. The criteria apply to all complaints relating to individual registrants

The GOC will regularly review the criteria to ensure it is up to date in reflecting changes to legislation and case law and remains consistent with other associated guidance documents.

Keith Watts, GOC FTP Head of Case Progression, said “Fitness to practise is about dealing with serious misconduct, not minor clinical or consumer concerns which could not call into question a practitioner’s fitness to practise. The Criteria will make it easier for us to filter out complaints that could not lead to a finding of impairment, and will allow us to focus our resources where they are most needed. The Criteria will also have a secondary benefit in helping us to speed up our FTP process.”

Further information about the policy can be found here.