Scheme for Registration

We will retain your contact information indefinitely as part of the record of your outcome on the Scheme for Registration. We will use it to contact you to support your progress through the Scheme.

We will share your name and enrolment status on the Scheme for Registration with the General Optical Council, in order to provide evidence of your eligibility for student registration.

We will share your name, practice address, contact phone number and email with College assessors. We will share your name and practice address with our mystery patient agency. This is order to facilitate the arrangement of work-based assessment visits.

In order to facilitate the payment of pre-registration fees, we will supply your name and enrolment status to your employer and / or employer group.

In order to facilitate the payment of pre-registration supervisor grants, we will share your name, your supervisor’s name, your practice address and the dates during which you are being supervised with the NHS or the body processing the grants on their behalf.

We may need to share your identification information with examination venues for security purposes.

We process your progression information in order to support your progress through the Scheme for Registration. We will retain your progression information for no more than five years after you complete or leave the Scheme for Registration. This may be extended in the case of any ongoing investigation with the College or the GOC.

For the purposes of marking your work-based assessments and Final Assessment OSCE, we will enter your name and results into our record management systems. This information will only be accessed by the College and any relevant software companies in order to process your results and to undertake statistical analysis.

Your listed supervisor/s will receive a copy of all your Stage One and Stage Two work-based assessment reports. This includes results and feedback. 

We will also share this information with your university if you are studying on an integrated degree programme. 

We will provide your employer and / or employer group with data showing your progress through the work-based assessment.

We will notify the NHS or the body responsible for managing performers’ lists on their behalf when you are eligible to sit the Final Assessment OSCE. We will also notify your employer and / or employer group and your university if you are studying on an integrated degree programme.

In the event of an investigation which results in referral to the GOC under its fitness to practise proceedings, we will share the investigation documents and your assessment records and information with the GOC. 

We will retain records of your final outcome on the Scheme for Registration in perpetuity, in order to provide evidence of your eligibility for full registration with the GOC. This includes if you leave the Scheme without completing it successfully. 

We will share your final outcome on the Scheme for Registration with the GOC, your supervisor, your employer / your employer group and NHS or body responsible for managing performers’ lists on their behalf. 

We will also share this information with your university if you are studying on an integrated degree programme. 

We acknowledge the rights available to individuals in respect of this processing, including the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you have any queries or concerns about the way in which we retain and process your data, please contact education.help@college-optometrists.org.

In the event of an application to the Appeals or Appeals Review Panel any details provided by the trainee to the College will be shared with Appeals or Appeals Review Panel members to enable them to make a decision. All names are redacted in the shared documents. Panel members are employed by the College for this role and are regularly reminded of their GDPR obligations.