The General Optical Council has vowed to reduce the time it takes to complete fitness to practise (FTP) investigations.
Speeding up investigations was flagged up in an otherwise clean bill of health by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) in its annual performance review.
The GOC has set targets to complete cases within three to nine months, from a current average of 16 months, the review found. The introduction of an electronic case management system was expected to contribute to this faster turnaround.
The CHRE review, which also assesses the other eight UK healthcare regulatory bodies, recognised the GOC as an 'effective regulator', saying its codes of conduct were 'in the interests of both patients and registrants'. GOC chief executive Samantha Peters said: 'We are pleased to receive CHRE's public support for the work we are already doing to speed up the FTP process.'