Optical professional standards and change management

If you are an optical professional you will know that on 1st January 2025 the General Optical Council introduced revisions to the optical professional standards. These can be found using links to standards of practice for registrant optometrists, dispensing opticians, optical students and optical businesses. The original standards for optometrists and dispensing opticians date back to the 2016 when they were launched as a replacement to the GOC’s Code of Conduct.

I recall that back then, the GOC also introduced mandatory CET domain to ensure learning outcomes mapped to the standards were created to help get to grips with the new regulatory standards. At the time this was arguably important because they were a totally new entity and set out the regulatory “rules’ for optical professionals in a new format. This remained in place until they CET rules were replaced by standards-based CPD domains in 2022.

Whilst the changes launched this year are not numerous, they include additional requirements that we optical professionals must be aware of. They are after all, the new “rules”.

For registrants, the new standards require you to identify yourself and your role to patients and they specify that you must apply professional judgements to inform clinical decision making using new technology.

The standards require optical registrants to refrain from practicing if they have been exposed to a serious communicable disease and to seek medical advice before returning to work. They also include equality, diversity and inclusion considerations regarding the way you speak to and treat people.

They also now align with the College of Optometrists guidance and specify that you must maintain boundaries such that you refrain from sexual conduct with patients and colleagues.

And with digital networking and communication playing such huge role in our lives, the standards now hold us to account to make sure we do not damage the reputation of the profession when engaging online.

Have you thought about how will the new rules are embedding for you?

How does news of imposed changes make you feel? Have you taken a detailed look at the updated GOC standards of practice? Are you aware of what the standards required of you in the period 2021-24 and which changes came into place at the start of 2025?

Human behavioural change models can help us consider how we adapt, at both a personal and an organisational level. 

The Stages of Change Model - Prochaska and DiClemente 1977

For an individual or a collective group of people, this model explains that behaviour change is a gradual process involving five stages which range from no intention to change, and progressing to actioned and maintained change.

Precontemplation (no intention to change)

Contemplation (awareness and consideration of change)

Preparation (planning to change)

Action (actively making the change)

Maintenance (sustaining the change)

Have you thought about the impact that the GOC standards will have on you and considered any need to change the way you work to meet those standards. What preparation was needed? What actions have been taken? How successfully have you maintained your approach to addressing the new standards alongside the ones you are already family with working in.

ADKAR Model The ADKAR model by Prosci from 2003, focuses on individual change and how people progress through five stages expressed in a different way.

Awareness - of the need for change

Desire - to make the change

Knowledge - of how to change

Ability  - to implement the change

Reinforcement - to sustain the change

The GOC have circulated a video which can be viewed using the following link and they have  used social media to help address the A of awareness. D for desire will be motivated by different factors for different people. I like to be proactive, and have the desire to be prepared in advance, working within the standards of the profession for which I am registered. K for knowledge is a good reminder that the standards are openly accessible online. I have found it helpful to go through them and look for the statements that have changed. This has created a deeper level of understanding for me and really helped me in considering how they apply in real life professional scenarios. I feel that I have reached the A for ability stage and am working on R for reinforcement.

There are many other models that help us to describe and understand how we change our behaviours to adapt to the changing world around us. I am confident that I will be exploring and applying more of these analytical models to future CPD activity.