Proposals for stronger protections for cosmetic surgery patients unveiled
Patients having cosmetic surgery should be able to make informed decisions about their treatment, including being able to check if their surgeon is listed on an approved register, according to new proposals made by the Royal College of Surgeons to improve standards of care.
The Cosmetic Surgery Interspeciality Committee (CSIC), which was set up by the Royal College of Surgeons in 2013, proposes that patients considering paying for cosmetic surgery privately – where they choose to have an operation for aesthetic rather than medical reasons – should have access to clear, unbiased and credible information about their surgeon, care provider, procedure and likely outcomes. Under the new plans, surgeons working in the private sector will have to prove they meet the standards of training to be certified and included on a register. This will be publicly available to employers and patients so they can make informed decisions.
To obtain certification, surgeons will have to be on the GMC’s specialist register in the area of training that covers the operations they wish to perform. They will also need to demonstrate they have undertaken a minimum number of procedures within the relevant region of the boy in a facility recognised by the health regulator; the appropriate professional skills to undertake cosmetic surgery; and provide evidence of the quality of their surgical outcomes. Certification will only permit surgeons working in the private sector to undertake cosmetic surgery on the areas of the body that relate to the speciality they trained in.
Mr Stephen Cannon, chair of the CSIC and vice president of the RCS, said, “We are determined to ensure that there are the same rigorous standards for patients undergoing cosmetic surgery in the UK as any other type of surgery. This consultation provides the next step in establishing clear and high standards for training and practice so that all surgeons in the UK are certified to the same level. “We want patients, surgeons and providers of cosmetic surgery to respond to this consultation and give us their views so we can develop these new standards.”
