In focus: Rose verdict re-ignites debate

A little over 12 months ago, the optometric and wider medical professions were rocked when Boots Opticians locum optometrist Honey Rose was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter following the death of an eight-year-old boy she performed an eye test on.

Now, a year later, the professions were left reeling once more following the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn the verdict, leaving a family to deal with further anguish and a profession questioning whether criminal proceedings should ever have taken place.

Rose was given a two-year suspended sentence in August 2016. During her trial, a jury was told she failed to notice that Vinnie Barker had swollen optic discs when she carried out an examination at a branch of Boots, in Ipswich in February 2012. Barker died five months later on July 13 from undiagnosed bilateral papilloedema.