General Optical Council

In order to implement the White Paper recommendations, the GOC has established an implementation project group, comprised of members of Council and executive staff.

The project is led by the Project Board, which has overarching responsibility for the project, and focuses on four key areas: 

Governance

In addition to overseeing the project, the Project Board is responsible for addressing governance issues such as the constitution of Council and its committees.

Revalidation

A workstream has been established to form proposals on a system for revalidation including the standards required of registrants.  In addition to reporting to the Project Board, the workstream also reports to the Standards Committee.

Tackling Concerns

A workstream was established to form proposals on GOC procedures to tackle concerns of registrants' fitness to practise, such as the transition to the civil standard of proof and the use of the independent adjudicator (OHPA).  Following the completion of their remit, the workstream has recently been disbanded and the Project Board will now take responsibility for any further issues arising. 

Registration

The Registration Committee has responsibility for addressing registration issues, including forming proposals for the CHRE and Department of Health's projects on 'good character' and student registration, as outlined in the White Paper.

National Working Groups

The Department of Health has established seven national working groups to oversee the implementation of the White Paper across all nine UK healthcare regulatory bodies.  The GOC has representation on four of the seven working groups:

• Health for health professionals
• Non-medical revalidation
• Tackling concerns nationally
• Tackling concerns locally

The additional working groups are:

• Enhancing confidence in healthcare professional regulators
• Extending professional regulation
• Medical revalidation and education