About this course
Thorough assessments mean accurate decisions, timely referrals, and safer patient journeys.
[podcast mini /media/goc-standard-7-intro.mp3]
A patient sits in your chair, anxious about sudden blurred vision. In that moment, your decisions shape their safety and their future care. Do you test more? Refer immediately? Monitor and review? These choices are rarely simple, but they must always be proportionate, timely, and defensible. That’s the essence of GOC Standard 7.
This course is designed to help you approach every assessment with clarity and confidence. You’ll learn to frame the right clinical question, focus your tests, and act decisively when red flags appear. You’ll discover how to craft referrals that secondary care welcomes—clear, concise, evidence-based. And you’ll strengthen your documentation so any colleague can pick up where you left off, seamlessly continuing the patient journey.
Your role is pivotal. Each thoughtful decision you make prevents delays, reduces risk, and builds trust. By engaging deeply with this course, you’re not only meeting regulatory expectations—you’re elevating patient care and safeguarding the standards of your profession.
Every consultation relies on careful examination and clear judgement. This course supports you in planning and carrying out appropriate assessments, recognising when referral is needed, and communicating effectively with other professionals. With these skills, you can apply GOC Standard 7 confidently in practice.
This course is relevant to the whole optical team, including
- Registered optical professionals wanting reliable CPD mapped to GOC Standards
- Locums, jobseekers, and overseas practitioners needing to demonstrate current knowledge
- Colleagues addressing professional challenges who require structured CPD for reflection and remediation
- Managers and teams who want consistent, defensible training
CPD Time: 60 minutes (1 CE Credit / 1 Non-interactive CPD Point)
Assessment: 10 MCQs. Pass mark 80%. more…
On passing the assessment you will immediately receive a CPD Certificate.
Customer feedback on this course
- Clear, practical and directly applicable to everyday practice — excellent structure for referral writing.
- Improved my confidence in recognising red flags and choosing appropriate urgency for referrals.
- Useful adaptations for children and patients with severe vision loss — very pragmatic advice.
- Concise checklists and templates that reduced ambiguity in our referral letters.
- Well designed for interprofessional handover and medico-legal record keeping.
Aim:
The aim of this course is to ensure registrants can conduct appropriate, proportionate assessments, examinations, treatments, and referrals in line with GOC Standard 7.
Course objectives:
- Provide teaching on structured history-taking, targeted examination methods, and referral best practice to support safe clinical care.
- Deliver practical guidance and case scenarios to help learners recognise urgent presentations, adapt assessments for diverse needs, and document decisions clearly.
Anticipated learning outcomes:
On course completion you will be able to:
- Conduct proportionate clinical assessments (Standard 7) using structured history and targeted tests aligned to patient priorities.
- Recognise urgent red-flag presentations and initiate escalation or referral (Standard 7) with appropriate urgency and patient communication.
- Write concise, evidence-based referral summaries and document decisions clearly (Standard 7) to support continuity of care and accountability.
GOC Framework Mapping:
Standard 7: Conducting Appropriate Assessments and Referrals
Domain: Clinical Practice
Learning content:
Introduction: Why Appropriate Clinical Care Matters | Patient Assessment and History Taking | Scenario Page 1: History Taking Challenges | Clinical Examination Techniques | Scenario Page 2: Adapting Examinations | Identifying Red Flags and Risk Factors | Scenario Page 3: Red Flags in Practice | Treatment Within Scope | Referral Best Practice | Scenario Page 4: Referral Decisions | Documenting Assessments and Decisions | Reflection and Continuous Improvement | MCQ | Reading List
View full course description
GOC Standard 7: Conducting Appropriate Assessments and Referrals in Optical Practice
Course Description
GOC Standard 7: Conducting Appropriate Assessments and Referrals in Optical Practice
This course teaches proportionate, safe and timely clinical care in optical practice. It focuses on forming a clear clinical question from history, selecting targeted tests, recognising urgent presentations, adapting assessments for diverse patients and producing high-quality referrals and records.
Introduction: Why Appropriate Clinical Care Matters
Covers the purpose of proportionate testing, links to GOC Standards 5 and 6, and explains assessment quality, decision integrity and escalation discipline.
Patient Assessment and History Taking
Explains structured history domains (onset, duration, laterality, severity), systemic history, medications, functional impact and inclusive questioning techniques, including teach-back and interpreter use.
Scenario Page 1: History Taking Challenges
Addresses risks of rushed histories, re-opening targeted histories, probing for red flags and adapting for cultural and language barriers.
Clinical Examination Techniques
Covers selecting tests to answer the clinical question, sequencing (observation, VA, pinhole, targeted tests), adapting tests for children, older adults and disabilities, and ensuring validity and repeatability.
Scenario Page 2: Adapting Examinations
Practical techniques for children with attention difficulties, assessing patients with severe vision impairment, use of objective measures and documenting adaptations and reliability.
Identifying Red Flags and Risk Factors
Lists high-priority ophthalmic and systemic red flags, immediate actions and first aid, triage and escalation pathways, safety-netting and risk modifiers.
Scenario Page 3: Red Flags in Practice
Examples include retinal detachment presentation, headache with blurred vision and disc swelling, documentation and timing during escalation, and when to stop routine testing.
Treatment Within Scope
Outlines evidence-based in-scope interventions, safe prescribing/dispensing, contraindications, when to manage or escalate, and communicating outcomes and consent.
Referral Best Practice
Describes criteria for urgent versus routine referral, writing clear requests (key findings, negatives, urgency), explaining referrals to patients and closing the loop with audits.
Scenario Page 4: Referral Decisions
Covers managing patient refusal and capacity checks, balancing autonomy with duty of care, improving vague referrals with templates and team education to prevent recurrence.
Documenting Assessments and Decisions
Details essential record elements (history, tests, reasoning), pertinent negatives, linking images/measurements to encounters and protecting medico-legal records.
Reflection and Continuous Improvement
Guides structured reflection, cognitive bias analysis, micro-audits, peer review, updating local triggers and mapping improvements to GOC standards and CPD logs.
Course Completion
Participants complete a feedback survey, take the MCQ assessment and receive a CPD certificate. The course encourages reflection and application of learning in practice.
You can copy and adapt this example PDP entry for your own needs and circumstances.
| PDP Learning or Maintenance need |
| Demonstrate competence in conducting appropriate assessments and referrals under GOC Standard 7 |
| How does this relate to my field of practice? |
| Directly improves clinical decision-making, patient safety and interprofessional handover in optical practice |
| Which development outcome(s) does it link to? |
| GOC Standard 7 |
| What benefit will this have to my work? |
| Reduced missed pathology, clearer referrals, better patient communication and stronger medico-legal records |
| How will I meet this learning or maintenance need? |
| Complete this course, apply structured history/exam approaches, use referral templates and reflect via CPD logs |
| When will I complete the activity? |