The framework for best practice

Eye care professionals now have to be familiar with the core competencies specified by the General Optical Council as necessary pre-requisites to be on their register and, therefore, to be able to continue to practise.

As such, the competencies now form the basis of training programmes in educational establishments and also during pre-registration periods. They are also the basis upon which continuing education and training, now a statutory obligation for all on the GOC register to undertake to maintain that status, are approved and accredited.

This week, we establish what each of the competencies is for optometrists, contact lens opticians and dispensing opticians. Each of the competencies will be expanded upon to describe exactly to what they refer. The aim then is to develop a list of  competency achievements over the coming year.

This will obviously be of direct interest to pre-registration optometrists and their supervisors who will be familiarising themselves with the new competency-based practice assessment approach to qualification. It is also hoped, however, that as the series develops, hints and clinical pearls will be used to illustrate various points that may be of interest and value to all our readers.

We begin with a simple list of the core competency subject areas for each of the three eye care professions on the GOC register.