GOC launches business standards consultation

The General Optical Council (GOC) has launched a consultation on new standards for optical businesses.

The consultation needed views from patients, optometrists and dispensing opticians, employers and other stakeholders on a new set of standards to replace the GOC’s Code of Conduct for Businesses, the regulator said.

The current drafts were designed to reflect changes in the optical healthcare practice and the individual standards over the last few years, such as the inclusion of the need to obtain valid consent and the duty of candour.

Alistair Bridge, GOC’s director of strategy, said: ‘We particularly want to hear from people about how responsibilities should be shared between individual professionals and the businesses they work for, about where individuals might require further support and about any difficulties that businesses might face in meeting the new standards.’