Practitioner warned over records

An optometrist who failed to refer a patient with acute retinal detachment to hospital has been found guilty of deficient professional performance by a GOC fitness to practise committee in respect of the notes he took.

However, the committee ruled that despite this, the fitness to practise of Anthony Vaughan Jones of Brecon, who worked at Rayners Opticians in Abergavenny, was not impaired by what happened.

But the disciplinary panel warned Jones that there could be times when poor record-keeping could lead to a finding that fitness to practise had been impaired.

'Notwithstanding this decision, you should be in no doubt the Council considers maintenance of full, comprehensive and contemporaneous records to be a most serious matter,' said panel chair Peter North.