Optometrist Gareth Long has been suspended from the GOC’s register for four months after a committee found his fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct.
The Newcastle-based practitioner added inaccurate and misleading records to conceal that he had incorrectly told a patient that they had cystoid macular oedema.
While working as a hospital optometrist in 2021, the registrant inserted additional information onto patient A’s record, including that they had discussed YAG capsulotomy.
Long also suggested patient A was confused about their visit and had picked up a note of the name of the condition that was intended for a different patient because they were sat next to each other in the waiting room.
The GOC said this additional information was misleading because Long had discussed cystoid macular oedema with patient A and not YAG capsulotomy, and it was patient A that he had written the note for on request.
CCTV indicated that the patients were not sat next to each other in the waiting area and that patient A was not confused because they understood their visit was about YAG capsulotomy.