Optometry student forged testimonials

An optometry student who lost his reports from four optometrists at Hallam Hospital in Sheffield went on to forge his own reports using slightly different handwriting for each, a GOC fitness to practise panel heard on Monday.

During the hearing in London to consider an application to impose an interim order of suspension on Umar Abbas, the panel heard that he 'panicked' at the prospect of delaying his final exams as a result of this loss.

The forged documents only came to light when an assessor at the College of Optometrists found one of the four testimonials was purported to be by an optometrist who was not registered with the GOC.