OO accused of theft faces GOC hearing

An optometrist accused of stealing hundreds of pounds from her employer will appear at a General Optical Council disciplinary meeting next month.

Sarah Jane Beaumont, who is registered in Ipswich, is alleged to have taken £830.60 from a practice in Stowmarket, Suffolk  between July 2002 and January 2004.

She is charged with serious professional misconduct relating to this, and two other matters: that on or about January 10 last year Beaumont is alleged to have created a referral form for a patient and entered '10 December 2003' as the date upon which the form had been created.

In another allegation related to a second patient, between 2002-2004 and without the consent of her employer, Beaumont is said to have removed a record card from the practice's premises. She is due to appear on March 11.

In a separate case, Llandrindod Wells optometrist Stephen Giles Marshall will appear at a disciplinary hearing on March 7 charged with serious professional misconduct.

The basis of the charge is that between 1999-2001 he submitted various claims related to 14 patients for items which were, in some cases, not supplied or replaced, or in some cases claims submitted were over the proper limit.

In a separate case, London-based optometrist Rob Neil Alexander Lamont is scheduled to appear before a GOC disciplinary committee on March 8, charged with serious professional misconduct.

It is alleged that between March 20 2000 and July 6 2003 he tested the sight of 37 patients when he was not registered as an ophthalmic optician or registered medical practitioner.

With regard to one of those cases, the optometrist is charged with failing to seek information from a patient on September 7 2001, or record several items relating to the patient's condition.