Conditional order extended

The fitness to practise committee of the General Optical Council (GOC) met recently for the third review hearing as part of the conditional registration order placed upon Oliver Wright Stevens. The optometrist was found guilty of deficient professional performance in November 2007 as a result of failing to maintain adequate patient records.

As part of the conditional registration, Wright Stevens had to arrange for a supervisor to provide subsequent review hearings with reports on performance with regard to record keeping. The committee received 'extremely brief' letters and 16 patient records from the registrant's supervisor, but said that it felt they did not address the failures originally indentified. The committee questioned the supervisor at the hearing and was concerned by his lack of knowledge of the conditions originally placed upon the registrant. It also noted that Wright Stevens was instructed under the supervisor's own experiences instead of professional guidelines or standards.