Following the departure of its director of regulation Mandie Lavin, the General Optical Council has appointed Lisa Davis as its new director of fitness to Practise.
Davis, a qualified barrister, takes up her new role having previously been GOC head of fitness to practise. Prior to joining the GOC, she worked within fitness to practise at the General Pharmaceutical Council, first as an advocate and then as case progression manager.
On her new role, Davis said: ‘Fitness to practise is extremely important for public protection and I look forward to this new phase of my employment with the GOC. One of my biggest priorities will be to continue the work we have already started to speed up the FTP process in the interests of both patients and registrants.’
As part of her new duties, Davis will oversee the fitness to practise, legal compliance and hearings teams, as well as managing the GOC’s contractual relationship with the Optical Consumer Complaints Service.
The regulator has also launched a recruitment drive for 20 registrants for its hearings panel. Twelve OOs and eight DOs are required because the current panel’s terms expire at the end of June.
Members of the panel sit in two capacities - as members of the fitness to practise committee and as members of the registration appeals committee
GOC Chair, Gareth Hadley, said: ‘We are looking for individuals who are able to bring a fresh perspective, which means recruiting from a wide range of backgrounds. Given the increasing divergence in the way our registrants are delivering their services, this includes representation from all four of the UK nations.’
The part-time roles have an initial three-year tenure and require a commitment of approximately 20 days per year. Applications close on February 9 at 17:00
For more information, or to apply visit https://www.optical.org/en/about_us/working_for_us/vacancies/index.cfm