Times investigation claims UK doctors are still breaching prescribing guidelines for toxins
A front page investigation by The Times newspaper has claimed UK practitioners are continuing to breach guidelines for botulinum toxin prescriptions by providing prescriptions to beauticians without having face-to-face consultations with patients.
It claimed that non-medics were obtaining prescriptions directly from doctors without the doctor seeing the patient first, a practice which contravenes guidelines set by the General Medical Council (GMC), and could lead to offending doctors being struck off. The investigation of several beauty salons in England and Wales was carried out by undercover reporters in conjunction with private accreditation body Save Face. Save Face is calling for an amendment to the prescribing guidelines to instruct all non-prescribers to disclose the full name and details of the prescriber on their websites to offer complete transparency.
Dan Poulter, the Conservative MP who was health minister at the time of the Keogh report, said it was “completely unacceptable for a doctor to write a prescription for a patient who hasn’t been examined by a medical professional”. He added, “Until we have proper regulation of high street practitioners of botox, collagen and other cosmetic procedures we are going to have a situation where potentially a patient is put at risk and their appearance and lives could be affected for ever.”
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said that it would follow up “as a matter of urgency”. He added, “We expect all doctors to follow our guidance. Anyone who fails to do so is putting their right to practise medicine in jeopardy.”
One doctor, Mark Harrison, has been struck off after it was discovered that he had “remotely prescribed” botulinum toxin to hundreds of nurses.
Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, warned the industry not to think that the issue had been “put to bed” by GMC reforms.
