Simon Jones: Too little, too late

The erasure of Honey Rose from General Optical Council registers last week marks the beginning of the end of a 10-year ordeal for the Barker family following the death of their eight-year-old boy, Vinnie, in 2012.

For the first time, the locum optometrist who missed the bilateral papilloedema at a sight test in February of 2012, has gone on record to apologise for her part in Vinnie’s death. I’ve no doubt it will be of little consequence to the Barker family, but Rose’s acknowledgement of her failings that day is an admission that should have been made years ago.

It’s hard to feel sympathy for anyone other than the Barker family in this tragic case, but I wonder if the length of time she waited to make an apology was down to her, or advice she had received from her counsel.