The Professional Standards Authority welcomes the UK Government’s proposed amendment to the Health and Care Bill which would give the Health Secretary powers to introduce a licensing scheme in England for health and care practitioners providing non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as Botox and fillers.
The Authority’s position is that the level of assurance for health and care roles should be proportionate to the risk of harm arising from practice. Licensing is one tool which can be used to manage risk and we support the proposal for licensing in principle.
For any occupation, a thorough assessment of the level and nature of risk can indicate if additional assurance – such as licensing – is needed. We have developed Right-touch assurance, a tool which can be used to carry out assessments and advise on the best way to manage risk.
The Authority has accredited two registers for non-surgical cosmetic practitioners under the Accredited Registers programme – Save Face and the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners. Accreditation provides additional assurance to the public and employers when accessing treatment from unregulated practitioners. We think it is important that if a licensing scheme is introduced, it should complement and enhance the existing safeguards offered by the programme.
Our UK-wide oversight role for statutory and non-statutory registers gives us a unique perspective to contribute to the development of a scheme. We look forward to working with Government and wider stakeholders on the development of proposals and responding to the public consultation.
ENDS
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact: Email: media@professionalstandards.org.uk
Notes to the Editor
- The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care oversees 10 statutory bodies that regulate health and social care professionals in the UK.
- We assess their performance and report to Parliament. We also conduct audits and investigations and can appeal fitness to practise cases to the courts if we consider that sanctions are insufficient to protect the public and it is in the public interest.
- We also set standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations and accredit those that meet them.
- We share good practice and knowledge, conduct research and introduce new ideas to our sector. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally and provide advice on issues relating to professional standards in health and social care.
- We do this to promote the health, safety and wellbeing of users of health and social care services and the public. We are an independent body, accountable to the UK Parliament.
- Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.
- More information about our work and the approach we take is available at www.professionalstandards.org.uk
- The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published the consultation Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate on 6 January.
- The plans to extend use of secondary legislation to removing professions from statutory regulation feature in the Health and Care Bill currently going through Parliament.