DO erased from register

Dispensing optician Helen Norris has been erased from the General Optical Council's (GOC) register after a fitness to practise committee upheld an allegation of theft during August 2009.

Norris, who was working in Asda Southport at the time, used a pre-paid gift card loaded with money from patient refunds to pay for goods at the store's self-service tills.

Norris claimed the refunds had been made in error and that she was not concentrating fully at the time of three incidents, on successive days. The committee heard evidence from Asda officials who provided CCTV footage.

The committee said Norris presented unsatisfactory and unconvincing evidence at the hearing and that her reasons for being in possession of the patient's gift card were weak.