Comment : Contact without concern

No one in the profession wants to protect colleagues who mistreat or take advantage of patients. That's a no brainer.

So there should be no doubt that the optical bodies' framework for chaperones should be embraced. But let's be clear about all the advantages.
The Model Chaperone Framework  is billed as: 'A framework which aims to protect patients from the distress or discomfort they may experience when making close contact with an optometrist or optician during a consultation.'

But as the very guidance points out: 'Sight tests and other procedures carried out by optometrists and opticians are non-invasive and not intimate in nature.'

This latest strand in the bureaucratic web that is the NHS concerns the relationship, attitude and respect between patient and practitioner. And with more litigious patients, shopping around and faster throughput, that relationship can be strained.

No reasonable practice would refuse a request from a patient, or a patient's carer, to allow the patient to be accompanied in the consulting room. The NHS and the PCTs do not need to legislate for that.

Making a suitable, trained chaperone available to your patients may seem like one more hassle. But the possible alternative of finding yourself on the end of a complaint does not bear thinking about.

Many may see this move as a slight to their integrity, but optician says take the initiative.

This framework provides an ideal opportunity to offer patients peace of mind. But it also gives practitioners a way of avoiding compromising situations and dealing with potentially difficult patients in a more open atmosphere.