The General Optical Council (GOC) has today released figures showing that the vast majority of opticians have demonstrated their continuing fitness to practise by meeting the requirements of its Continuing Education and Training (CET) scheme.
The GOC removed just 160 registrants for failing to meet their CET requirements for the 2013-15 cycle – less than one per cent of the register.
The GOC has also removed a further 135 individual registrants from its registers for failure to apply for retention by the 31 March deadline.
GOC chief executive and registrar, Samantha Peters, said: “It is pleasing to see such high compliance with our CET requirements. CET is essential for registrants to maintain and develop their knowledge and skills, and ensures that the public are protected and can be confident in the ability of their eye care practitioner. The scheme underwent a lot of changes for the 2013-15 cycle to encourage more interactive learning and the professions have embraced the changes tremendously.
“It is a legal requirement for all fully qualified registrants to renew their registration annually, and those registrants who did not complete their retention are now unable to practise until they have restored their registration. All employers and commissioners should ensure that any optometrist or dispensing optician working for them remains registered with the GOC.”
Any individual or business registrants who have been removed, but who wish to continue practising, must first restore to the register. To do this, applicants must complete a restoration form indicating that they have met the restoration requirements and pay a restoration fee. For individual practitioners, the restoration requirements include completing all necessary CET. Details are available on the GOC website.