GOC suspends optometrist for six months

Optometrist James Paul Hands has been suspended by the General Optical Council for six months.

At a hearing on August 26 2011, the Council found that Hands was in breach of conditions placed on him by the GOC in November 2010 after he was found guilty of drink driving. At the time, it concluded that Hands' conduct fell well short of what the public expected from the profession.

The hearing was carried out because his employer informed the Council that he treated a patient on August 5 2011, which breached Condition 14 of the sanctions placed on him last year. The Council said that 'the registrant showed no insight into the seriousness of his actions.'