General Optical Council Meets Required Standards Of Performance, Say CHRE - UK

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 31 Aug 2008 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The General Optical Council (GOC) has been praised by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) for successfully meeting the required standards of performance in all aspects of its work.

In its annual Performance Assessment of how the GOC operates its core functions, the CHRE also identifies key strengths from the last 12 months. These include the Council's internal governance processes, such as an appraisal system for fitness to practise panel members. The use of an internal Code of Conduct for GOC members is also noted.

Commenting on the findings, GOC Acting Registrar and Chief Executive, Dian Taylor said: "We are encouraged to be recognised as an efficient and effective regulator by the CHRE. However, there is still a lot of work to be done. Council will now look to the priorities outlined for 2008/9, such as improving the content of the Opticians Registers, and ensuring that the views of patients and the public are adequately represented in GOC policy development."

Each of the nine UK healthcare regulatory bodies is assessed every year by the CHRE. The process looks at how each regulator carries out its functions and their general performance against agreed standards. The Assessment highlights good practice and identifies areas for improvement.

The full CHRE Performance Review 2007-8 of the GOC's work is available from the CHRE website, http://www.chre.org.uk, or from http://www.optical.org

1. The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) is an independent statutory body covering all of the United Kingdom. It is answerable to the Westminster parliament. It was established by parliament in 2003 to ensure consistency and good practice in healthcare regulation.

2. The CHRE governs the following nine UK regulatory bodies:

- the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates doctors
- the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which regulates nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses
- the Health Professions Council (HPC), which regulates 13 professions*
- the General Dental Council (GDC), which regulates dentists, dental hygienists and dental therapists
- the General Optical Council (GOC), which regulates dispensing opticians and optometrists
- the General Chiropractic Council (GCC), which regulates chiropractors
- the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC), which regulates osteopaths
- the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), which regulates pharmacists
- the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which regulates pharmacists.

3. The standards against which the regulators are assessed can be found on the CHRE's website, http://www.chre.org.uk.

About the General Optical Council

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.

General Optical Council