Simon Jones: Read the room

I’m finding it hard to make sense of some of the reaction to the GOC’s decision to hand optometrist Honey Rose a nine-month suspension order for her failure to diagnose a build-up of fluid on the brain of an eight-year-old boy during an eye exam in 2012. A boy who died a few months later.

Let’s start with the Association of Optometrists’ statement issued after the fitness to practise hearing last week. ‘Ultimately we feel that is a good result for her (Honey Rose) and the AOP’s legal team,’ said the AOP.

A good result? Even through the prism of a membership association focused intently on the interests of its client, I’m not sure ‘good result’ is the best way to describe the outcome of a case where an eight-year-old boy lost his life (In Focus page 6).