A Leeds-based optometrist has been handed a 12-month suspension order after a General Optical Council fitness to practice committee heard she made multiple submissions of false receipts for financial gain over a ten-year period.
The committee alleged Simone Boyd created receipts for products she had received free of charge and later submitted them to a health insurance provider which covered the cost of optical appliances. The GOC said she obtained nearly £1,500 to which she was not entitled, but had since paid the money back to the insurance provider.
In making the decision, the committee, chaired by Ian Crookall, said: ‘It was determined that the registrant’s past actions had brought the profession into disrepute and breached fundamental tenets of the profession.
‘Ms Boyd has developed insight however, as evidenced by her early admission to these matters and her full cooperation with the GOC investigation process. She had a previously unblemished career and the committee had received a number of references demonstrating that Ms Boyd is a very competent and highly experienced optometrist.’