General Optical Council

We have completed the first stage of our consultation on draft proposals for a revalidation scheme for opticians. The results of this consultation will be used to formulate more detailed proposals which will also be subject to consultation.

Read the full consultation document and draft revalidation proposals
 

A broad outline of our proposals follows:

Revalidation will apply to all registrants who are active in clinical practice; those on the register but not practising will not be required to be revalidated.

How it will work

We anticipate using an online system, similar to the one used for CET, to support the revalidation process.

Licence to Practise

We intend to undertake the approach of the General Medical Council (GMC) by seeking the legislation required for registrants, who are practising, to be issued with a Licence to Practise.

Risk profiling

We intend to undertake risk profiling of our registrants to inform the revalidation scheme which will be evidence-based wherever possible. Registrants will be asked to provide details of their scope and context of practice.

Competencies

Registrants will be revalidated against entry-level competencies or, where speciality registration is held, the competencies required for entry into a specialty.

Evidence

The greater the risk to patients of 'competency failure', taking into account the contextual factors of a registrant's practice, the more robust will be the evidence-base required to satisfy the GOC that competency has been maintained.

Intensity and frequency of revalidation and remediation

A Licence to Practise will be issued every six years (matching two three-year CET cycles) following a revalidation review.  However, where concerns are identified, a licence may be issued for a shorter period subject to the registrant meeting certain conditions. 

The cost of undertaking remedial action to meet such conditions will be met by the registrant.

Timescales

A full implementation plan will be published later in the year.  We plan to start revalidating registrants from the beginning of the 2012-14 CET cycle.  One sixth of registrants will undergo revalidation each year (matching two three-year cycles).

Our full response to the report is available to download below.
GOC response to NMRWG report