Former Shetland optician Brian Kelly has been banned from practising as an optometrist in the UK after the General Optical Council (GOC) ruled that he fraudulently claimed nearly £30,000 from the NHS while working in the isles.
Kelly, who ran Kelly Opticians on Lerwick’s Commercial Street for a number of years alongside his wife until the early 2000s, has adjudged to have made 25 “dishonest claims” for payment when he owned the Shetland practice between 1995 and 1999.
He has been erased from the GOC register and has until 17 March to appeal. He is suspended and is unable to practise in the meantime.
During a hearing which took place earlier this month, the General Optical Council confirmed that Kelly’s practice over-claimed remuneration from the NHS worth £29,398.30 in the space of four years.
This included giving vouchers for replacement spectacles in circumstances not permitted by NHS regulations and claiming for work in excess of that actually carried out.
The regulatory body also said Kelly had not “engaged” in the hearing and that he did not provide any up-to-date information to the committee, while no references and testimonials had been submitted.
The chair of GOC’s fitness to practise committee commented: “Mr Kelly had made inappropriate and fraudulent claims for payment on twenty five specific occasions. These occasions were themselves a selection from a pattern of wider fraud over a period of about four years.
“The committee was in no doubt that the facts that it had found proved, in relation to the registrant’s dishonesty, amounted to misconduct.
“While no question had been raised in relation to his clinical competence, the lack of probity demonstrated in this case was considered extremely serious.
“In making its decision, the committee concluded that the sanction of erasure was the only proportionate outcome in this case, to uphold proper standards of conduct and to maintain confidence in the profession and in its regulation.”