GOC suspends Leicester-based optometrist

Leicester-based optometrist Rajeev Lal Saigal has been suspended from the GOC register for 28 days after a GOC committee found his fitness to practise impaired on public interest grounds.

In June 2023, during a mystery shopper appointment, the Specsavers employee failed to complete an internal examination, examine the patient’s anterior chamber or vitreous or perform a further examination with a volk or direct ophthalmoscope.

The defendant also pre-filled out the patient’s record to suggest that he had carried out a pupil assessment, external assessment, examination of the anterior chamber and vitreous and volk assessment, when he had not.

While the committee determined that Saigal’s actions fell below expected professional standards, it acknowledged difficult personal and working events, positive testimonials and steps taken by the registrant to ensure the events would not happen again.