Ethics and Ethical Standards for Optometrists and Opticians

About this course

Optical professionals work at the meeting point of healthcare and retail. In a single day an optometrist or dispensing optician may detect sight-threatening disease, advise a patient that they are not fit to drive, explain the difference between lens options that cost very different amounts, fit contact lenses for a teenager, and handle a complaint about a pair of spectacles. Each of these involves ethical judgement: putting the patient's health first, being honest about options and costs, respecting choice, and protecting confidentiality.

This course applies the core ethical principles to optical practice, explains the General Optical Council's updated standards, which took effect on 1 January 2025, and covers consent, commercial pressures, referral, advertising, candour, records, vulnerable patients, boundaries, and how the GOC responds when standards are breached.

CPD Value and How to Record It:

This course is designed to provide approximately 2 hours of learning, including reading, the reflection points, the reflective account and the assessment. In the UK, CPD is generally recorded as the time actually spent learning, so you should record the time you genuinely spend, which may be more or less than the estimate.

How the course fits your revalidation or CPD requirements depends on your regulator. For example, the NMC asks nurses, midwives and nursing associates to record 35 hours of CPD over three years, of which at least 20 must be participatory; self-directed online learning such as this course usually counts as individual learning unless you complete it with others. The GMC expects doctors to reflect on CPD for appraisal and revalidation rather than setting a fixed number of hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC and GCC each set their own CPD requirements, so check the current rules that apply to you. Always keep your certificate together with your written reflection.

What you will learn

• Explain why ethics matters in optometry and dispensing optics.
• Apply autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and confidentiality in optical practice.
• Describe the GOC's standards, including the changes introduced in 2025.
• Act honestly in clinical advice, advertising, pricing and records, and be candid when things go wrong.
• Support vulnerable patients and make shared decisions in clinical and commercial contexts.
• Maintain professional boundaries, including online and in commercial relationships.
• Respond to breaches with insight and remediation.

Who this course is for

Optometrists, dispensing opticians, contact lens opticians, independent prescribing optometrists and student registrants, including those responding to a concern.

Course content

10 sections · 2 CPD hours · 15 MCQs

Course facts

CPD value

Approximately 2 CPD hours (estimated learning time, including reflection and assessment); record the time and reflection in your GOC CPD record

Format

Self-paced reading with optical practice cases, reflection points and a written reflective account

Standards covered

GOC Standards of Practice for Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians and Standards for Optical Businesses (updated 1 January 2025); Opticians Act 1989; sight testing regulations; DVLA vision standards; consent, capacity and data protection law

Assessment

15 scenario-based multiple-choice questions; pass mark 12 out of 15 (80%)

Questions about this course