Welcome

About this course

Duty of candour and speaking up concern honesty, safety and trust when something has gone wrong, almost went wrong, or risks being concealed. In optical practice, support staff are often the first to spot a wrong record, missed message, dispensing error, delayed referral, faulty equipment, confidentiality breach, unsafe shortcut or repeating concern.

This course is for optical assistants, reception and admin staff, retail and dispensing support staff, practice managers, locums, temporary workers and other optical team members. It focuses on practical actions and the roles of support staff; it does not make support staff responsible for clinical investigations, legal thresholds or formal regulatory decisions.

The course uses GOC expectations and UK candour and whistleblowing guidance as context. The main emphasis is on what support staff should do day-to-day: notice concerns, keep people safe, tell the right person, apologise appropriately, record facts, escalate when needed and learn from incidents.

Why this course matters

• Patients trust optical teams: honesty after problems preserves confidence and helps patients know what to do next.
• Small concerns can prevent harm: near misses, delays and repeated shortcuts often reveal system faults before someone is harmed.
• Support staff see the whole journey: reception, admin, dispensing, retail and collection workflows can create or reveal risk.
• Silence makes problems bigger: fear, blame, embarrassment or sales pressure can lead staff to hide concerns that need review.
• Good records protect everyone: clear factual notes help the practice understand what happened and how to prevent recurrence.

A simple learner spine

• Notice: take incidents, near misses, complaints, unsafe shortcuts and worrying patterns seriously.
• Make safe: act immediately if someone needs help, urgent review or protection from further risk.
• Tell: inform the registrant, manager, safeguarding lead or follow the urgent route in local procedure.
• Apologise: say sorry for distress or poor experience without guessing, covering up or shifting blame.
• Record: note clear facts, times, actions and who was informed.
• Escalate: continue to speak up if the first response is unsafe, dismissive or compromised.
• Learn: use incidents and concerns to improve systems rather than hide mistakes.

By the end of the course you should be better equipped to support openness, patient safety and a speaking-up culture in optical practice.