The General Optical Council (GOC) has welcomed the publication of the
government’s review of the regulation of non-medical healthcare
professionals.
During the review, the GOC highlighted opportunities to improve patient
protection through more coordination and consistency between the
healthcare regulators, employers and other players in the UK healthcare
system.
Registrar Peter Coe said: “I am very pleased that the review’s findings
will now be available for discussion and debate. We haven’t had a chance
to look in detail at the recommendations. Clearly, that is something we
will be doing over the coming weeks as we consider the implications for
the Council. We look forward to working with the Department of Health,
the other regulators and the CHRE to ensure that UK health regulation
continues to improve to protect public health and safety.”
1 – The GOC’s response to Review of Non medical Professional Regulation
Call for Ideas is available from our
website
The Council highlighted the need for a consistent approach from
healthcare regulators and set out opportunities to improve patient
protection:
— Fitness to practise investigation and adjudication systems need
greater clarity and consistency. Such systems must have the confidence
of both the public and the profession.
— Specialty registers should be used to manage areas where scope of
practice is widening.
— ‘New and extended roles’ which relate to competencies already
regulated should be regulated by the same body, as with dental team
regulation.
— Better communication between the players in the UK health system could
help regulators, for example to revalidate practitioners or identify bad
practice.
— The GOC is the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Its
purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of
education and conduct amongst opticians. The Council currently registers
around 22,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and
optical businesses.
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