This is the fourth in a series of interactive CET exercises based upon the recent series of articles by Dr Nizar Hirji concerning the legal requirements of eye care practitioners.

Dr Nizar Hirji would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr Fergal Ennis, School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales in developing this exercise.

Using the six articles in the series as source material, you are invited to consider a case study describing one aspect of practitioner or patient behaviour or action about which you will be asked to have a discussion with a colleague and reach a conclusion as to the legality of any advice or outcome. The case examples selected have been designed as having relevance to each of the professional categories, so for these exercises you are required to undertake discussion with a peer of the same category as your own (optometrist with optometrist, dispensing optician with dispensing optician and so on).

Source materials

The six articles in the source material for this exercise should be read through before attempting the CET exercise to ensure an adequate understanding of the subject matter prior to your discussions. The articles are as follows:

  1. This article is a discussion of some recent landmark cases of relevance and a review of sources of law, such as common law and statutory law, European Union law and the European Convention on Human Rights (still relevant at present), and civil and criminal law.
  2. This is the first of four articles discussing the concept of accountability for eye care practitioners. In this article, the author focuses firstly upon criminal accountability and the need for clinicians to disclose any conviction or other information of criminal relevance into the public domain where this is seen to outweigh the normal duty of confidentiality that the individual usually has owed to them. The issues of burden of proof and of non-disclosure are included. Secondly, there is consideration of accountability relating to our professional regulator, the GOC, and a clarification of their requirements for registered practitioners.
  3. The second article on accountability discusses employment and legal aspects of working as an employed practitioner, and then goes on to look in detail at practitioner accountability when working within the NHS
  4. The final article concerning accountability looks at accountability within civil law and explains the processes surrounding clinical negligence, duty of care and the ‘Bolam’ test.
  5. This article discusses issues around informed consent and disclosure and the distinction between peer-view consent to patient-view’ informed consent.
  6. The final article in the series returns to the concept of accountability with a discussion of the inter-related accountability of practitioners and the process of complaints or grievances. It also includes an overview of what is currently required to maintain good practice, including staying within your own competency, keeping adequate records and ensuring patient satisfaction

Once you have read through the source material, please attempt the six multiple choice questions.