OO mishandled patient data

Bournemouth-based optometrist Namrata Narsi has been handed a six-month suspension by a General Optical Council fitness to practise committee after it heard she removed confidential patient data from a practice from which she had resigned.

The panel also heard that Narsi also attempted to download and remove confidential patient data onto a portable storage device without authority to do so.

In making the decision, the committee, chaired by Ian Crookall, said: ‘There were some aggravating features of this case. In particular, the dishonesty occurred in a professional context. The registrant had put her own interests ahead of the interests of patients, the practice and the profession. The dishonesty had been planned and the registrant had limited insight in respect of it.’