A complete guide to the professional conduct requirements in the GOC Standards of Practice — what each requirement means for optometrists and dispensing opticians in daily practice, and how to demonstrate ongoing compliance.
Every practising optometrist and dispensing optician must meet the professional conduct requirements of the GOC Standards of Practice. Understanding what these requirements mean in practice protects both patients and registrations.
The GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians cover every dimension of professional conduct — from patient communication and consent through to honesty and integrity in all professional dealings.
All GOC fitness to practise conduct assessments are conducted against these Standards. The guide to GOC professional standards provides the complete overview.
This guide focuses specifically on the professional conduct provisions most relevant to fitness to practise proceedings.
The Standards require optometrists and dispensing opticians to be honest in all professional contexts — with patients, with the GOC, with employers, and with professional peers.
This includes: accurate CET declarations; honest billing and professional fees; transparent disclosure of any adverse events under the duty of candour; and honest dealings with the GOC in any regulatory proceedings.
Dishonesty in any of these contexts — particularly fraudulent CET declarations — is among the most consistently serious categories of GOC concern and frequently results in the most serious sanctions.
The Standards require all optical professionals to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with patients — prohibiting sexual or inappropriate personal conduct with patients, and any conduct that exploits the inherent professional relationship.
Boundary violations are treated with particular seriousness in GOC proceedings. The guide to GOC erasure covers the categories of conduct most likely to result in the most serious outcomes.
CPD Certified — Online — Immediate Access
The Standards require optical professionals to communicate openly and honestly with patients — particularly when things go wrong.
The duty of candour requires: telling the patient that something has gone wrong; apologising; explaining what happened and the implications; and describing what will be done. Failure to be candid with patients following an adverse event is itself a fitness to practise concern.
Meeting the GOC's mandatory CET requirements is a professional conduct obligation — not just a regulatory formality. Failure to meet CET requirements is itself a fitness to practise concern.
CET completed in response to a specific GOC concern — targeting the Standard most relevant to the allegation — provides both CET compliance and remediation evidence. The guide to what GOC CPD evidence counts covers how CET in this context is assessed in proceedings.
Ethics and professionalism CET directly addresses the Standards' professional conduct provisions — and provides documentary evidence of engagement with those provisions.
The guide to GOC insight and remediation explains how conduct evidence is assessed in the complete fitness to practise evidence file.
UK-registered healthcare professionals can access professional ethics training through Healthcare Ethics Courses.
Professionals with connections to Ireland can consult et.
Those with connections to Canada can review pd.
10 CPD-certified courses for £500. Optometrist and dispensing optician-specific ethics and professionalism CPD — demonstrating active engagement with GOC professional conduct Standards.
Bulk Buy 10 Courses →Honesty and integrity in all professional dealings; appropriate professional boundaries; open communication with patients; CET compliance; and conduct maintaining public trust in optical practice.
Accurate CET declarations; honest billing; transparent adverse event disclosure; honest dealings with the GOC; and truthful dealings with employers and peers.
Prohibition on sexual or inappropriate personal conduct with patients and any conduct exploiting the professional relationship.
Disclosure of adverse events to the patient — telling them what happened, apologising, explaining the implications, and describing what will be done.
Failure to meet mandatory CET requirements is itself a GOC fitness to practise concern.
Against the specific Standards provision most relevant to the concern — whether conduct met the standard expected of a competent optical professional in the same circumstances.
Dishonesty — particularly fraudulent CET declarations — which consistently leads to the most serious GOC outcomes.
Yes — ethics and professionalism CET directly addresses the Standards' professional conduct provisions and provides evidence of engagement.
Yes — wherever something has gone wrong in the course of care, the duty of candour requires open and honest communication with the patient.
All professional conduct requirements — consent, honesty, record keeping, CET — apply to contact lens practice with specific additional GOC guidance on contact lens supply and aftercare.
Yes — in most cases. Genuine insight, targeted ethics and professionalism CPD, and practice changes demonstrating improved conduct can significantly influence GOC case outcomes.
Yes — all professional conduct requirements apply regardless of the delivery method of optical services.
Conduct and competence concerns often co-exist — a clinical error may involve both a competence failure and a consent or record keeping conduct failure. Both dimensions are assessed in fitness to practise proceedings.
This guide is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Seek independent legal advice from a solicitor experienced in GOC regulatory proceedings.
