You must never abuse your professional position,²⁸⁸ for example by pursuing a sexual or inappropriate emotional relationship with a patient or their carer. This is because it can damage public trust in the optometric profession, and the inappropriate relationship may affect decisions you can make about a patient’s care.

You are in a position of power and trust with your patients and should maintain appropriate boundaries in how you communicate with your patients and their carers.

You should not express personal beliefs, including political, religious and moral beliefs, to patients in ways that could exploit them if they are vulnerable, or which might distress them.

The definition of a carer in this section of guidance is a professional carer, family member, partner or friend who looks after the patient to the extent that they are part of their clinical experience, for example a parent who accompanies their child to hospital.

If you are attracted to a patient, you must not act on these feelings. If you are not sure whether this is affecting your professional judgement, you should discuss this with a colleague or with your professional or representative body.

You should be sensitive to cultural differences in personal boundaries.