GOC hearing cancelled

A GOC Fitness to Practise hearing for Simon Rose, scheduled for January 26 and cancelled, will not proceed.

The GOC stated: 'Following review of expert evidence, the Investigation Committee reconsidered this matter and decided that it would not be appropriate to proceed with the formal hearing.'

The case involved the issuing of a prescription without justification to a patient, now deceased, at a Surrey nursing home, including failure to record an acceptable standard history and symptoms, ophthalmoscopy findings and visual acuity/retinsocopy results and the dispensing of photochromics without justification.

The GOC's director of legal and fitness to practise Caroline Whithall wrote: 'The Committee would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the need to keep full and complete records when examining patients in a domiciliary setting, including the need to record acuity. The Committee would suggest that here it is not possible to obtain an acuity reading, a note to this effect should be made on the records.' It referred him to the Code of Practice for Domiciliary Eyecare.