Issues surrounding fitness to practise (FTP), including proposals on criminal prosecution and the eradication of unnecessary delay in FTP processes, were the principal focus of discussion at the General Optical Council (GOC) meeting on January 27.
Current FTP procedure had come in for criticism from the profession on a number of occasions in recent months. The Association of Optometrists' chief executive Bob Hughes attacked the GOC's attitude towards students and the high number of FTP cases that were brought against them in October 2010. In January 2011 Hughes told Optician that a successful appeal in the High Court by an optometrist against the findings of a GOC FTP committee would see the GOC change the way FTP works (News 28.01.11).
In the GOC's public paper on proposals to eradicate unnecessary delay in FTP processes, the GOC acknowledged that the system was handicapped by 'antiquated procedures, the absence of case management systems and insufficient staff numbers'. The report said these factors meant that in some instances cases were not being processed 'as speedily as they should'.
The Council agreed to a number of proposals made by GOC director of regulatory services David Howell to reduce the time taken in investigating cases from an average of 16 months. These included the introduction of a fast-track system for simple cases and an electronic case management system, while a staff post will also be reallocated to investigations. Other proposals included the introduction of new rules replacing the investigation committee with case examiners and to delegate the decision whether to commence proceedings in an instant case to the GOC registrar.
There was also agreement to begin using Section 13(b) of the Opticians Act 1989 to obtain High Court orders to compel third parties to provide information when requested so cases could be heard quicker.
All of the proposals were intended to reduce the time taken investigating cases to three months for simple cases, six months for standard cases and nine months for complex cases. The Council agreed that the draft rules should be released for public consultation and hoped to place them before Parliament by the end of the year with a view to implementing the three-, six- and nine-month timings by January 2013.
The other FTP issue decided at the meeting concerned proposals on criminal prosecutions. Howell said that 'taking action in appropriate cases is defending the public'. He outlined the current situation where 'if non-registrants break the Opticians Act there is no legal comeback'. Before agreeing to Howell's proposals (see page 5), the Council questioned the volume of work that prosecuting non-registrants would involve.
Howell revealed that there were currently around 50 cases which included five allegations last year of breaches of protected title, four for breach of restricted activities, five of unlawful sale of spectacles and 40 of the unlawful sale of contact lenses. He envisaged that if the GOC commenced prosecuting, more cases would be drawn to its attention.
Chairman Anna Bradley said that were the GOC to start prosecuting non-registrants under the act, the intention would not be to prosecute every case. 'We're not going to go from the sublime to the ridiculous,' she said. Public papers published by the GOC before the meeting revealed that the estimated costs of instructing a private inquiry agent to gather evidence would be around £500 to £700 per case. Advocacy costs would range from £50,000 down to £700 for the simplest matters and although the GOC would apply for its costs from the court, their recovery could not always be guaranteed.
The Council also received an update and presentation on the progress of online retention for individual registrants which revealed that around 25 per cent of registrants have completed their retention online. Last year only 10 per cent had completed their retention online at the same point in the cycle. The Council heard that as of January 25, 382 registrants had submitted low income applications which represented 2 per cent of those eligible.