Standards for Optical Students

10.1 Protect and safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse. You must:

10.1.1 Be alert to signs of abuse and denial of rights.

10.1.2 Consider the needs and welfare of your patients.

10.1.3 Report concerns to an appropriate person or organisation, whether this is your tutor, supervisor or training provider.

10.1.4 Act quickly in order to prevent further risk of harm. Seek advice immediately if you are unsure of how to proceed.

10.1.5 Keep adequate notes on what has happened and what actions you took.

10.2 Promptly raise concerns about your patients, peers, colleagues, tutor, supervisor, training provider or other organisation, if patient or public safety might be at risk and encourage others to do the same. Concerns should be raised with your supervisor, training provider or the General Optical Council as appropriate. This is sometimes referred to as ‘whistle-blowing’ and certain aspects of this are protected by law.

10.3 If you have concerns about your own fitness to practise, whether due to issues with health, character, behaviour, judgement, or any other matter which may compromise patient safety or damage the reputation of your profession, do not participate in any further clinical training and seek advice from your employer and training provider immediately.

10.4 If patients are at risk because of inadequate premises, equipment, resources, employment policies or systems, put the matter right if that is possible and/or raise a concern with your training provider.

10.5 Ensure that when reporting concerns, you take account of your obligations to maintain confidentiality as outlined in standard 13.

10.6 If you have a serious communicable disease, or have been exposed to a serious communicable disease, and believe you could be a carrier, you should not practise until you have sought appropriate medical advice. You must follow the medical advice received, which may include the need to suspend, or modify your practice and/or guidance on how to prevent transmission of the disease to others. For guidance on serious communicable diseases, refer to current public health guidance.