Calls for stricter botox laws as unregulated clinics open after ONE day of training

Campaigners have told Clyde 1 News there is an ugly side to aesthetics - with some botox injectors getting behind the needle after only a day's training.

Susan McMahon wants to see tighter regulations after highlighting a disparity between medic and non-medic practitioners.

The former lawyer trained in adult nursing before opening an aesthetics clinic in Glasgow, which she said cost upwards of £30,000, to meet requirements placed on medically trained injectors.

In Scotland, all registered healthcare practitioners, including doctors, dentists, and nurses, must be regulated and registered with Health Improvement Scotland before they can undertake any cosmetic procedures in a clinical environment.

However, a legal loophole means that people without a medical background can set up this type of business without being registered or regulated under a public body.

This has led to a surge in aesthetics businesses where injectors have taken a single course and can begin dishing out jabs to patients the very next day.

It has also meant so-called clinics have started opening in garden sheds, caravans and living rooms.

'Something needs to change'

Susan said: "Medics are already regulated by our professional bodies, the NMC, the GDC, the Dental Council and the Pharmacist Council, however for non-medics there is no such obligation.

"They have no professional code as such to follow, they don't have a regulator like Healthcare Improvement Scotland. So you could say that medics are double regulated and non-medics are not regulated at all.

"Now this creates a whole issue, it creates a two-tier system whereby medics do feel at times that we're over-regulated and discriminated against whereas non-medics there is no recourse if something goes wrong for the general public.

"So yes we may argue there's trading standards but there's no professional body to hold them accountable and there's no benchmark competency.

"So for example, a builder could tomorrow go and do a one-day course in Botox and open up a clinic the next day with absolutely no background check, no competency check, no check on their health and safety, no check about where they get their prescription medications.

"That is actually a huge problem because there's a huge influx of fake prescription medications into the market that people are simply buying online and then using on unwitting patients who do not know where it's come from, they've not seen a prescriber face to face.

"It could be dangerous, the product itself may be fake and then there's no recourse for the patient if something goes wrong because non-medics are not regulated in any way.

"So we're campaigning for safety to ensure that the public are not damaged and they are being damaged.

"I accept that this is difficult for some non-medics to hear, some of whom have great businesses but the inequity and the levels of patient safety we simply cannot monitor so something needs to change."

'Somebody will die'

Susan added that this lack of regulation allows non-medics to undercut qualified clinics by offering cheap deals for dodgy products and limited healthcare knowledge.

She said: "The government knows this is happening and it is taking far too long to respond so I say to politicians: somebody will die.

"We will get to the point where somebody will die and the government will have blood on their hands if they don't take action, and take action fast."

'Scope of further regulation'

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We want to ensure all cosmetic procedures in Scotland are delivered from hygienic premises by appropriately trained practitioners, applying recognised standards and using regulated products.

“This is a fast-changing sector, which is why we are working with beauty industry representatives, environmental health officers and healthcare professionals to consider the potential scope of further regulation and make sure we get the detailed specifics right.”

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