Midlands optometrist to face GOC committee

A GOC fitness to practise committee hearing for Wolverhampton optometrist Samir Patel is scheduled to take place on March 23 in London.

The inquiry will be based on the allegation submitted by the Council that Patel's fitness to practise ability was impaired by virtue of the provisions contained in section 13D (2) of the Opticians Act 1989.

It is alleged that Patel tested the sight 'of persons at a time when he was neither registered as an optometrist' nor 'appropriately supervised' between August 16 2005 and February 20 2006. During the same period, he is also alleged to have held himself out to Wolverhampton City PCT as a registered optometrist in order to obtain payments to which he was not entitled.