18 September 2025
An overview of approved General Optical Council (GOC) qualifications and fitness to practise disparities were among topics discussed at the latest Council meeting of the optical regulator (16 September, held online).
Council members discussed qualitative research exploring registrants’ experiences of bullying and discrimination and provided input on a thematic review of commercial pressures within optometry. Below, OT presents a selection of insights from the meeting.
1 GOC to examine commercial pressures within optometry
The optical regulator is investing £40,000 in a thematic review that aims to understand commercial pressures within optometry.
A business case detailing the proposed scope of the review outlined the topics that would be covered as part of the research, including overbooking and ghost clinics, short sight testing times, commercial targets and incentives, and a lack of transparency around eligibility for NHS financial support.
Introducing the thematic review, GOC director of regulatory strategy, Steve Brooker, explained: “There are widespread concerns among many of our registrants about commercial practices which impact on their personal wellbeing and on their ability to deliver a sufficient level of care to patients.”
As part of the review, GOC will also look at whether young children are being turned away from optometry practices.
“There's some anecdotal evidence that some businesses are turning away parents in part due to commercial reasons,” Brooker said.
GOC council member, Frank Munro, welcomed the review, noting that commercial pressures should be viewed in the context of underfunding of General Ophthalmic Services.
“For practices to survive, they need to subsidise clinical care with commercial activity. That is the elephant in the room that has got to be recognised,” he said
2 There may be three new optometry qualifications on offer by September 2026
As part of the GOC approved qualifications report, the optical regulator confirmed that the GOC is currently considering 10 applications for new qualifications in optometry and dispensing optics.
If these applications are successful, there will be three new providers of optometry qualifications by September 2026.
“Government apprenticeship funding is driving lots of interest in degree apprenticeships for dispensing opticians,” Brooker explained.
“Even when finances are tight, there is interest in new qualifications in optometry, but that could also have quite a disruptive impact on existing providers, some of whom have quite a small cohort number,” he shared.
GOC education policy manager, Ben Pearson, said: “Optometry qualifications continue to report strong admission figures with around 1200 student admissions.”
“The number of trainees on independent prescribing qualifications fell, although it appears there was a spike in applications and admissions in 2022–2023,” he said.
3 Fitness to practise disparities persist for male and British Asian registrants
The latest Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) report reveals that a disproportionate number of men and British Asian optometrists and dispensing opticians are facing fitness to practise investigations.
This is a trend that has persisted. The Professional Standards Authority – which oversees the GOC – has called for healthcare regulators to examine the potential for unfair fitness to practise outcomes as a priority.
The latest data shows that while 36% of all registered dispensing opticians and optometrists are male, 55% of dispensing opticians and optometrists facing a fitness to practise investigation are male.
A disproportionate number of Asian and British Asian optometrists and dispensing opticians are facing a fitness to practise investigation – this demographic makes up 37% of all registrants and 51% of fitness to practise investigations.
The GOC has established an unfair outcomes working group and commissioned external intersectional analysis into fitness to practise disparities.
GOC council member, Raymond Curran, paid tribute to the work that the optical regulator has taken in delivering against its action plan on EDI.
“I’m involved in other organisations that are keen to get under the skin of EDI – making it real and effective,” he said.
“This is the strongest that I have come across. We can’t be complacent, but it is a great direction of travel so I commend the work that has been done,” Curran highlighted.
GOC equality, diversity and inclusion manager, Joanna Murphy, shared that gender pay gap data from the optical regulator shows that women earn slightly more on average than men at the GOC.
“That's against a national picture where women still earn significantly less,” she said.
“The report shows real progress, I'm sure you'll agree, but there are also clear areas where work must continue, particularly around fitness to practise,” she said.
4 A year in the life of the GOC fitness to practise committee
Six optometrists and dispensing opticians were erased from the GOC register over the past year, according to the latest Fitness to Practise Report.
The 2024–2025 summary of fitness to practise hearings highlighted that the regulator received 464 concerns over the year, with 137 new investigations opened.
Of the concerns received by the GOC, 42% related to clinical issues, 32% related to conduct and the remainder (26%) a mix of health, criminal conviction and business-related concerns.
The report also outlined fitness to practise outcomes over the year. There were six erasures, 21 suspensions and three registrants who received conditions on their registration.
5 22% of optometrists and dispensing opticians report feeling pressured to a sell unnecessary products and services
GOC policy manager, Angharad Jones, shared that the GOC had conducted qualitative research into the experiences of optometrists and dispensing opticians. This research involved 38 in-depth interviews with registrants who had experienced bullying, abuse or discrimination.
“That was really to build on the findings of the registrant survey over the past couple of years, with quite high numbers of registrants saying that they had experienced these types of negative behaviours,” Jones explained.
“We wanted to delve into those issues and hear from registrants in their own words,” she added.
Jones highlighted that the interviews revealed the serious and long-lasting effects of bullying, abuse and discrimination.
Interviewees reported reduced engagement and confidence at work and less desire for career progression.
Jones added that these negative effects also affected the home life of interviewees, with participants reporting anxiety, depression and intrusive thoughts about going into work.
“Participants in the research really wanted the GOC to provide clear leadership and take action in serious cases of harassment, bullying, abuse or discrimination,” she said.
Brooker described the qualitative research as a “hard hitting” report.
“It is quite distressing to read in places, showing the real personal impact – which lasts throughout people's careers – of these behaviours,” he said.
Sharing findings from the 2025 GOC registrant survey, Jones explained that around half of respondents said the time allocated to perform a sight test was insufficient to provide safe patient care, while 35% said they felt under pressure to sell certain types of glasses or contact lenses to earn money for the business.
The survey also found that one in four respondents had been asked to overbook a clinic while around one in five (22%) said they felt pressured to sell a product or provide a service that was not needed by a patient.
GOC research explores experiences of bullying and discrimination
“It got to the point where the sound of the footsteps across the floor to hand over a dispense would make me start shaking”
6 How would the GOC make decisions quickly if another pandemic occurred?
As part of the latest meeting, the GOC approved a revised set of standing orders and scheme of delegation.
These are core governance documents that set out the processes that the optical regulator follows.
During the discussion, council lay member, Cathy Yelf, asked what processes the GOC would follow if it needed to make urgent decisions – for example, if another pandemic occurred.
GOC head of governance, Andy Mackay-Sim, responded that there are sections in the standing orders that cover exceptional circumstances where decisions need to be made outside of scheduled meetings.
For example, there is provision for calling an urgent meeting of council. If this is proving too difficult, or the risk level is too high, then the standing orders also enable a decision to be made by email.
“It is worth drawing council’s attention to the fact that any decision by email needs the full agreement of every single council member,” he said.
“Critically, anything with an operational risk is likely to sit with the executive. If there was another pandemic or another event that meant council was not able to convene regularly, we would look at delegating to [the chief executive] so she could take forward those operational decisions and strategic decisions as needed,” Mackay-Sim explained.
He added that council would need to convene in order to approve this delegation of responsibility.
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Anonymous2 weeks ago
I don't trust the GOC. They have nothing that considers malicious complaints in their FTP procedure.
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