The Government has reconfirmed its commitment to the licensing of the non-surgical aesthetics sector in England. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy, Maria Caulfield stated that “departmental officials will work as quickly as possible to introduce the licensing scheme and will consider all the important areas.”
As readers will be aware, the Government made a commitment to bring forward the regulation of the aesthetics sector in March 2022 to protect patient safety and make it an offence for a person to perform non-surgical aesthetic procedures without a licence. Non-surgical aesthetic procedures include cosmetic filler injections, botulinum toxin (“Botox”), lasers, peels and hair restoration surgery.
The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners, the British Beauty Council, and the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health have welcomed the Government’s reassurances and maintain that the key priorities for the Government going forward are:
- The design and implementation of a national licensing scheme for all premises where licenced procedures are conducted as well as practitioners of non-surgical cosmetic procedures to ensure that all those who practise invasive procedures are competent and safe for members of the public.
- A requirement for all practitioners to hold adequate medical insurance in order to provide non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
- The development of official guidance on the training and qualification expectations for all practitioners, including knowledge and application of infection controls and first aid training.
- The development of a system for the effective recording of adverse incidents and public awareness raising to ensure that all cases that go wrong can be tracked and improvements to safety made as a result. Members of the public need better tools and knowledge in order to protect themselves.
Victoria Brownlie, Chief Policy Officer at the British Beauty Council explains that almost a million Botox or cosmetic filler injections are administered each year and “regulation is needed more than ever to protect consumers seeking these kinds of non-surgical treatments. We need to create a level playing field to give piece of mind that adequate training, hygiene and safety standards come as standard when having aesthetics treatments – raising the reputation of the sector and professionalising the industry as a whole.”
We wait to see how the regulation of the non-surgical aesthetic sector in England will develop going forward and when the proposed licensing system will be implemented.
