Chain of opticians faces inquiry into misconduct claims

A LEADING optician chain faces a potentially devastating investigation into claims of misconduct.

Optical Express, which was founded in Scotland, and still has its headquarters here, has been summoned to a rare ‘fitness to practise’ hearing by the industry watchdog.

After complaints from patients and customers, the UK body which regulates opticians alleges that Optical Express’s fitness to carry on business is impaired ‘by reason of misconduct’.

The General Optical Council (GOC) also alleges there were ‘practices or patterns of behaviour occurring within the business which you knew, or ought reasonably to have known of, and which amount to misconduct’.

As well as offering eye tests, glasses and contact lenses, Optical Express is one of the UK’s leading providers of laser eye treatment and lens replacement surgery.

A hearing this year will probe complaints from five customers, as well as claims that those complaints were not handled appropriately.

Although the GOC declined to discuss the exact nature of the alleged misconduct ahead of a scheduled hearing in September, it is clear that the complaints are not about bungled surgery or the competence of surgeons, as eye surgery is regulated by the General Medical Council.

It is understood that individual complaints being investigated are likely to concern how surgery was sold to patients, and follow-up care. A source said: ‘These complaints may involve problems like patients not being warned adequately about side-effects such as dry eye, giving consent without seeing the surgeon, and about being exposed to hard-sell tactics designed to persuade people to have surgery even when there are other options.’

If the GOC upholds the complaints, the firm could be forced to shut its chain of more than 100 stores across the UK. Optical Express, which has its headquarinvolve ters in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, and had a turnover exceeding £88 million in 2018, has hundreds of employees around the UK.

It could be fined or suspended from practising for up to 12 months, or it could be removed from the GOC’s register for up to two years.

The GOC alleges the company failed to respond appropriately, and/or in a timely manner to concerns and formal complaints raised by five customers, identified in documents relating to the case as Patients A, B, C, D and E.

It also claims that Optical Express failed to refund Patient E’s deposit within a reasonable period of time.

The hearing is scheduled to run for nine days in September.

Although GOC ‘fitness to practise’ hearings are not uncommon, most individual opticians rather than large companies. Optical Express’s website says it has ‘over 100 clinics across the UK’.

The chain has previously been censured over its handling of eye surgery. In September 2014 it was found guilty of failing to properly warn a patient of the risks involved and told to pay £569,000 in damages.

In August 2017, John Margetts, an Optical Express optometrist, was suspended for 12 months by the GOC after a four-day hearing that followed a BBC investigation.

He was secretly recorded making claims that laser eye surgery was ‘mandatory’ for RAF pilots, was 100 per cent safe and would return better results than 20/20 vision.

The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed this year that Optical Express was facing legal actions from former patients, who said they had experienced poor outcomes after surgery.

Optical Express was last week contacted by telephone and email several times for comment, but no response was offered.

‘Warned adequately about side-effects’