Council hits back at government review

The GOC has defended its role in the health service as the Government ponders on making cutbacks in healthcare professional regulatory bodies.

Speculation has started on the future of the Council with the dispensing profession's Dispensing Optics newsletter questioning whether it will survive.

This week, following this summer's call by health secretary Patricia Hewitt for a review of the number of healthcare regulators, the GOC said it hoped for 'more coordination, not reorganisation'. It welcomed the review, but challenged the potential benefits to the public and practitioners from changes in the structure, function or number of healthcare regulators.

In its response to Andrew Foster, director of workforce, and the non-medical healthcare regulation review group which is overseeing the review, the Council highlighted the need for a consistent approach from healthcare regulators.

The GOC said it has identified a number of possible improvements to current systems which could help to ensure patient safety. Rosie Varley, GOC chairman, said: 'Improving patient protection has to be the top priority. We have real opportunities to establish better communication between the players in the UK healthcare system, and to agree common standards for regulation. A protracted and expensive process of restructuring will divert efforts away from quality improvement.'

Under changes to the Opticians Act introduced this year, the GOC has already introduced extensive reforms to strengthen patient protection, it said, and in its response outlined existing and additional measures needed to demonstrate practitioners' initial and continuing fitness to practise.