GOC’s Honey Rose sanction quashed at High Court

GOC’s Honey Rose sanction quashed at High Court

The High Court has upheld an appeal brought by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) against the General Optical Council’s fitness to practise committee’s sanction against optometrist Honey Rose.

Rose was given a nine-month suspension without review in December 2020. An FtP Committee had found her fitness to practise impaired by virtue of serious misconduct following a failure to spot papilloedema caused by a build-up of fluid on the brain of an eight-year-old who subsequently died of hydrocephalus.

The FtPC’s decisions are subject to review by the under The NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002. The Act gives the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) powers to refer cases to the relevant court if it considers that an FtP decision is insufficient.

The GOC commented: “We acknowledge the judgement of the High Court to quash the decisions of our Fitness to Practise Committee (FTPC) regarding the case of optometrist Honey Rose. The matter has been remitted back to the GOC for a re-hearing.”