GOC suspends student optometrist for one year

The GOC has suspended a London based student optometrist from its register for 12 months.

A GOC Fitness to Practise Committee found Deepa Acharya’s fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct, due to a falsification of her A Level grades and her first-year university degree results to get a place on an optometry course.

Anne Johnstone, chair of the Committee, said: ‘The Committee noted that the Registrant’s dishonesty and lack of integrity represented a serious departure from the Code of Conduct and that to some extent there was a continuing lack of insight into the seriousness of her actions. Therefore, the Committee noted that a Suspension Order would send a signal to the Registrant, the profession and the public re-affirming the standards expected of a student registrant.’