GOC erases student registration

The General Optical Council (GOC) met recently to review the suspension order placed upon student optometrist Trishna Patel placed in February 2011 after she received a police caution for fraud by false representation. Patel did not attend the hearing, or present any evidence to the committee, and it was decided that her registration should be erased.

The committee said: 'In the circumstances, it was impossible to be satisfied that the registrant has fully appreciated, in particular, the gravity of the offence and has reflected on its implications.'

Patel was found to have stolen £1,400 from the bank account of a colleague in the summer of 2009 after she obtained the victim's PIN number.