Section 60 consultation begins for opticians
Plans for reform of the General Optical Council (GOC) and changes to the laws governing registration to practise as an optometrist or dispensing optician have been published by the Department of Health.
Much of the reform will be implemented by an Order in Council under Section
60 of the Health
Act 1999. The remainder will be implemented by several
sets of rules which are to be made by the GOC and which will have to
be approved by the Privy Council.
The consultation document says that the package of reform planned for
the GOC includes radical overhaul of the early stages of complaints investigation
in order to make them faster, fairer and more effective. There will also
be greater clarity for practitioners of the standards they are expected
to maintain, clear appeals procedures, competency-based assessments and
new procedures for lesser complaints that do not call registration into
question.
Parallel Section 60 orders for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the
General Dental Council will be published for consultation later in the
year. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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