Common FTP pitfalls

Representatives from a wide range of companies were presented with fitness to practise (FTP) insight at a roundtable event at the General Optical Council’s (GOC) London offices.

At the event, information was shared on the type of fitness to practise cases received by the optical regulator, the processes followed and the outcomes of cases. 

The GOC revealed that the most common complaints received about business registrants over the past three years related to poor complaint handling, directors of optical businesses failing to declare cautions or convictions and businesses not having correct procedures in place or not applying their established procedures correctly.

Director of casework and resolutions at the GOC, Dionne Spence, said that she hoped sharing FTP insight would help both practitioners and business registrants to minimise the risk of complaints being made.

“Optical businesses play a vital role in providing eye care services to the public and provide the working environment for thousands of our registrants,” she said.

“Going forward, we hope to create more opportunities to share information with our business registrants, from the large multiples to smaller independents,” Ms Spence added.

Vision Express optical compliance manager, Meena Ralhan, highlighted her appreciation of the direct engagement from the GOC.

“It was an insightful day working through scenarios to see how the GOC reach decisions and surprisingly how only a small handful of company complaints go through to a full FTP hearing,” she said.

Image credit: Laurence Derbyshire