General Optical Council

Registering a specialty

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Contact lensThere are additional registers for practitioners with specialist qualifications. They are called specialty registers.

 

Specialties for optometrists:

Additional supply of therapeutic drugs
Supplementary prescribing of therapeutic drugs
Independent prescribing of therapeutic drugs

 

Specialties for dispensing opticians:

Contact lenses

If a practitioner has a specialty entered against their name, they are entitled to perform additional duties to those of a normal optometrist or dispensing optician. They have undergone a course of specialist training in that field, and have registered their specialty qualifications with us. 

If a registrant performs specialist work without being on the appropriate register, the Council’s Fitness to Practise Committee may treat this as evidence of impaired fitness to practise.

 

 

 

How to register


What do I have to do?

  • Download and complete an application for entry of a specialty form. Or contact our registration team for a copy.
  • Return the completed form, together with a copy of your qualification certificate, to: Registration team, General Optical Council, 41 Harley Street, W1G 8DJ. There is a charge of £30 for registering a specialty . 
  • Contact lens specialties, Additional supply specialties and Supplementary specialties will be renewed as a part to the annual retention process. Independent prescribing specialties must be renewed separately in accordance with the retention deadline. There is no additional fee for this and you will be notified of your requirement to renew your specialty

What do I get?
Once we have processed your application the specialty will be entered against your name in the opticians register. We will send you a new registration certificate.You can then practise that specialty .

What are the CET requirements?
Once your are registered with the GOC, your online portfolio on www.cetoptics.com will be updated to show that you are required to collect additional CET points in the specialty area you are qualified in. You must earn one CET point for each two full months of specialty registration, until the end of the current cycle which concludes on 31 December 2009. This is in addition to the general CET requirement.