GOC erases Durham based optometrist

The General Optical Council (GOC), the UK regulator for optometrists and dispensing opticians, has decided to erase Bryan Ainley, an optometrist based in Durham, from its register. He will now be unable to practise as an optometrist in the UK.

A GOC Fitness to Practise Committee found his fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct relating to the Registrant’s failure to adequately assess patients and maintain an adequate standard of record keeping.

In making the decision, the Committee chair stated:

"The Committee determined that the Registrant’s conduct, whether by wilful neglect, or recklessness, was far below that of a reasonably competent optometrist. The Committee was satisfied that a finding of misconduct is justified in this case, given that the Registrant’s inability to conduct basic optometric testing means that a safe eye test may not be possible.

"The Committee considered that a finding of current impairment on the grounds of public protection and the public interest is necessary, given the absence of any remediation and given that the Committee has found there is a risk of repetition of the misconduct.

"The failure to provide an acceptable level of patient care, (including both clinical failures and record keeping for many years), without remediation, leaves the Committee with no confidence that the Registrant has the potential to develop insight into his failures and learn from them. Accordingly, the only appropriate and proportionate sanction is one of erasure."

Mr Ainley has until 15 July 2019 to appeal his erasure, during which time he is suspended from the register under an immediate suspension order.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The full determination is available can be found on our past hearings page
2. A full transcript of the hearing is available on request and payment of an administration charge.
3. Read our guide on how the FTP process works.
4. 4. The registrant’s date of most recent registration with the GOC as an optometrist was 8 January 2016. His GOC registration number is 01-7055. His last registered contact address was in Ouston, Durham.

For media enquiries please contact:

GOC Communications Team

General Optical Council

t: 020 7580 3898 (option 3)

e: communications@optical.org

About the General Optical Council

The GOC is the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Its purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education, performance and conduct amongst opticians. The Council currently registers around 30,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and optical businesses.