The General Optical Council (GOC) has today published its policy on Consensual Panel Disposal.
The policy will be used to identify and progress fitness to practise cases that may be suitable for concluding without a contested hearing if the registrant has admitted the allegation in full. For consensual panel disposal cases, the GOC will seek to agree an appropriate level of sanction with the registrant and make a sanction recommendation to the Fitness to Practise Committee.
The GOC consulted on the policy from August to September 2017 and received encouraging support from the stakeholders that responded.
Lisa Davis, Director of Fitness to Practise, said “We are pleased to introduce this new policy as we believe people on all sides will benefit. The consensual panel disposal policy will encourage registrants to participate in the fitness to practise process, and will give us the flexibility to adapt the process to each individual case. Most importantly, consensual panel disposal will help us to deal with cases expeditiously in order to protect the public.”
More information can be found on the GOC website here.