What is the consultation?
The popularity of non-surgical cosmetic procedures has been growing in recent years. The cosmetic and personal care sector is a major contributor to the UK economy with a total GDP contribution of £24.5 billion and tax contributions of £6.8 billion in 2022.
The Government is currently consulting on whether a licensing scheme (“Scheme”) for non-surgical cosmetic procedures should be introduced in England to ensure that consumers can be confident the treatment they receive is safe and of a high standard (“Consultation”). Currently, and as readers will be aware, there are no mandatory training requirements for those performing non-surgical cosmetic procedures and no requirement for such persons to be registered with a regulator or registration body.
Under the proposed Scheme, practitioners will need to be licensed to perform specific non-surgical cosmetic procedures and their premises will also need to be licensed. The consultation is therefore seeking views from stakeholders on whether treatments to be captured through the Scheme should be restricted to persons over the age of 18, and which specific non-surgical procedures should fall within the term ‘regulated activities’ for the purposes of proposed Care Quality Commission (“CQC”) regulation (see further detail below). Presently, and in accordance with the Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021, it is a criminal offence for someone to administer botulinum toxin or injection fillers for a cosmetic purpose to those under the age of 18 years.
The consultation is open until 11:59pm on 28 October 2023 and can be accessed on the following link: https://consultations.dhsc.gov.uk/en/64e370c657345835ff0a5f8d.
What does the Consultation propose?
The Government’s intention for the Scheme is that it will:
- Consist of a practitioner license and premises license
- Be administered and enforced by local authorities
- Make it an offence for an individual to carry out non-surgical cosmetic procedures without a license
- Require those performing such procedures to be:
- Suitably trained and qualified
- Hold appropriate indemnity cover
- Conduct operations from clean and hygienic premises
- Introduce a minimum age of 18 years for those receiving such procedures under the Scheme
In turn, the Consultation seeks responders’ views on the following:
- The type of procedures to be included within the Scheme;
- Whether certain high-risk procedures should only be conducted by regulated healthcare professionals or trained practitioners working subject to clinical oversight (and thus fall outside of the Scheme) and;
- Whether age restrictions should be imposed for those receiving the aforementioned procedures.
What will the CQC’s proposed role be?
Regarding the Government’s proposal that high-risk procedures should be restricted to regulated healthcare professionals alone, the Government seeks to classify these procedures as ‘regulated activities’ and bring them within the remit of CQC regulation. This will not only quality assure the procedures provided from a patient safety perspective but also ensure the CQC’s fundamental standards of safety and quality are met or risk enforcement action.
CQC regulation is currently required where a practitioner provides refractive eye surgery or lens implant surgery, liposuction, thread lifting, and cosmetic surgery that involves the insertion of instruments or equipment within the body e.g. tummy tucks and facelifts etc.
Next steps?
Once the consultation closes, the Government will work closely with stakeholders in the relevant sectors to develop proposals on the training, hygiene, infection control and cleanliness, and indemnity requirements that practitioners and premises will need to meet to be granted a licence. This, in conjunction with a public consultation, legislative scrutiny and the required amendments to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 which will inevitably follow, infers that any sort of Scheme will not be operational until 2024/2025 at the earliest. Although this seems a long way off right now, this is a significant development for those within the aesthetics sector and those legal representatives providing them with assistance.
