23 December 2015
The General Optical Council (GOC) has confirmed to OT that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, will not be issuing a fine to the regulator.
This follows a public apology from the GOC to registrants (7 December), after the regulator made an error when processing personal data.
A spokesperson at the GOC informed OT that: “The ICO has now considered the matter and has informed us that it is satisfied with the action we have taken following the data breach and will not be issuing a financial penalty.
“We would like to apologise again for the concern caused to registrants and are conducting a thorough review of our procedures to avoid any similar breaches occurring in the future.”
OT understands that the GOC has also reported the incident to the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), which oversees the GOC as a regulator.
In an earlier statement to OT, the GOC confirmed that the three organisations that received the personal data have since deleted the information and confirmed that it was not passed on to any third party.
Comments (3)
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Anonymous01 February 2016
I look forward to the GOC taking an equally lenient and understanding position with any Registrants before the FTP panel.
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Anonymous29 December 2015
Exactly. This would not have been tolerated by the GOC if it had been a registrant similarly mishandling patient data. As one one the registrants affected, I asked which organisations now have my details. But the GOC's 'Compliance Manager' stated: 'We are currently considering these requests following the principles of the Freedom of Information Act – and will respond in due course.'!!!
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Anonymous24 December 2015
One law for the GOC and one for Optoms / DO's ? If we had a data breach we would be up in front of the FTP committee for sure. The GOC should have been fined and sent on an 'improvement' course.
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