Optometrists face charges next week

Two optometrists will appear before General Optical Council disciplinary committees next week in separate cases.

Brian Suttie, who is based in Chalfont St Giles, is charged with serious professional misconduct related to an appointment on October 15 2002.

It is alleged that he did not examine the patient's visual fields or test the reaction of the patient's pupils.

It is also alleged that he did not record seven matters related to the patient and did not refer the patient to a registered medical practitioner. The case will take place on Tuesday, July 12.

Two days' later, London practitioner Sam Silver will appear in a separate case, again charged with serious professional misconduct.

It is alleged that he issued a GOS3 voucher to different patients on 12 separate occasions between September 2001 and September 2002 in respect of whom he had 'established a prescription for each eye with no spherical element and a cylindrical element of
-0.25 dioptres'. This hearing was postponed from May 27.