The General Optical Council announces Kathryn Foreman as lay Council member

The General Optical Council announces Kathryn Foreman as lay Council member

The General Optical Council (GOC) has today announced Kathryn Foreman as a new lay Council member, beginning on 1 October. She was appointed by the Privy Council, and will succeed Sinead Burns, whose two terms of office finish at the end of September.

A qualified lawyer, Kathryn followed a career as a solicitor in local government before moving to become the first female non-operational deputy chief officer in the country at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, where she worked extensively in local, regional and national organisational development. Her non-executive career to date has included a six-year term at the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) where she also chaired registration appeal panels. She is a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) Assurance and Appointments Committee, a non-executive director at Primary Care 24 Ltd, a social enterprise delivering NHS services in the North of England, and sits on police misconduct panels.

Dr Anne Wright OBE, Chair of Council, said: “I am delighted to welcome Kathryn as a new Council member. She brings wide experience in a variety of roles, and her expertise in healthcare regulation and as a non-executive director for a healthcare provider will be invaluable to the work of the Council and the GOC.

Kathryn joins the GOC at a critical time, as we prepare to launch our new strategy for 2025-30 which will continue our vital work of protecting the public by upholding high standards in the optical professions. I look forward to working with her.

I would also like to thank Sinead Burns for her outstanding contribution to the GOC during her period of office.”

Kathryn Foreman said: “I am delighted to be joining the GOC’s Council. I am passionate about public service being the best that it can be, equally accessible to all and it continuously improving and evolving, and I look forward to working with the GOC’s leadership to launch and deliver the new strategy, where this ethos will be a key part of ensuring safe and effective eyecare for all”.