For the
person opting for a cosmetic intervention today, there are many avenues
open. As most interventions are medical procedures, you would think that
people would ask their GP or trusted doctor for advice or a recommendation in
the first instance. However there is clear evidence that the vast
majority of people don’t even consider this. This is largely in part to the
way that the industry has developed, unregulated, in the UK over the last
decade. It has become commonplace for these treatments to become easily
available in a hairdressers salon or a beauty spa, or you can organize yourself
a “Botox Party”, a bit like an Avon party where you can invite your friends
over and all have treatments by someone coming to your house.
Then there
is the issue of who might be performing the treatment, and what training they
have had, how much experience have they had, do they know the risks, can they
deal with anything that might go wrong? In the UK anyone who can
prescribe can legitimately administer a Botox treatment
that includes Doctors, Dentist, Nurses, Midwifes and Podiatrists. And
also, due to a legal loophole, anyone at all can administer a treatment under
the instruction of one of the above. Technically, I could ask my
receptionist to administer a Botox treatment to a patient I have seen and
neither of us would be breaking the law. With regards to dermal fillers
it’s even easier. They are not prescription only so anyone can administer
to another person so long as the person has given consent.
The
Department of Health, in response to the PIP breast implant episode,
commissioned a review of the regulation of cosmetic interventions. It
comes under the Policy umbrella of “protecting patients from avoidable
harm.” The review and its recommendations were published in April of this
year, but so far no progress seems to have been made with implementation.
The
review chairman, NHS Medical Director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, said:
At the
heart of this report is the person who chooses to have a cosmetic procedure. We
have heard terrible reports about people who have trusted a cosmetic
practitioner to help them but, when things have gone wrong, they have been left
high and dry with no help. These people have not had the safety net that those using
the NHS have. This needs to change.
We
would like to see everyone who chooses to have any cosmetic procedure better
protected. We would like to see people who carry out procedures trained to a
high standard. We would like the public to feel confident they are going to be
well looked after and, if things go wrong, that they will be supported. And
ultimately, if someone needs to step in on the side of patients, we think there
should be an ombudsman to do that.
We talk
about trust a lot in Clinetix. It is the core ethos of our
practice. We want you to know that you can trust us. You can trust
that we are trained to an exceptionally high standard. You can be
Confident that you will be well looked after. You can trust that we will
give you the unbiased information to let you make the right decision about your
treatment.
To help
develop that trust we use iConsult, a custom built app that gives you access to
your entire patient journey, including information about what treatment you
have had, what products were used, who performed the treatment and what there
qualifications are, what exactly was detailed in your consent forms, and any
patient information that you may need.
If you would like to speak to one of our team to discuss your concerns,
phone us or click here to arrange an appointment. We look forward to seeing
you.
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