Dispensing optician claimed to be patient

Taunton dispensing optician Adrian Pardoe has been suspended for three months after a General Optical Council fitness to practice committee heard that he had signed forms purporting to be a patient.

In making its decision, the committee chair said: ‘The committee noted that the registrant had been in practice for some 20 years with a previously unblemished record and that his misconduct was atypical of his normal conduct. However, it was of the view that the forging of signatures was a serious matter involving dishonesty and a breach of his duty as a professional, and liable to bring the profession into disrepute.’