A Parliamentary Reception was held at the House of Lords on 24th January, hosted by Baroness Ritchie of Brompton, Chair of the Treatments You Can Trust Governance Group. Anne Milton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, attended the reception and announced her continued support for the Treatments You Can Trust scheme.
1. Reduction in the number of dermal fillers available in
the UK
With over 160 dermal fillers with the CE marking available
on the UK market (compared to just eight in the USA which meet rigorous FDA
regulations), www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk
continues to advocate a review of the CE marking of dermal fillers, and a reduction
in their number to only those safest for use.
2. Restricting foreign supplies of uncertified dermal
fillers in the UK
The www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk
Governance Board will continue to work with the MHRA and the UK Borders’ Agency
to review existing controls that still allow uncertified dermal fillers to
enter the UK.
3. To clamp down on issues surrounding remote prescribing
www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk has previously held
successful meetings with the NMC and the GDC to tackle the issue of remote
prescribing to unqualified providers of cosmetic injectable treatments amongst their
registrants.
4. Local authority support
Anne Milton has previously supported the intention for the www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk
Governance Board to work closer with Local Authorities to tackle the localised
issue of unregulated practitioners administering cosmetic injectable
treatments. Local Authorities have a considerable reach and ability to influence
and inform residents to use the register when seeking a provider in their area.
5. Spot inspections for registered providers
To ensure that the standards set by www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk
are met, on-site visits to registered providers will continue to be conducted
at 24 hours’ notice by the Registrar, CHKS. The 2011 visits were encouraging
and revealed that the Standards are being upheld by providers on the register.
The 2012 programme of visits will be commencing shortly, and we will be providing
an update on the findings.
6. To track the use of dermal fillers amongst appropriately qualified
providers
The www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk Governance Board is
reviewing their support for the UK Botulism Toxin Group with the development of
a Register to identify the types and breadth of dermal fillers currently in
use. This will help identify where unregulated providers are acquiring
injectables, and allow remedies to be applied.
7. To launch a consumer awareness campaign: patient pester
power
www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk will shortly be launching
a ‘patient pester power’ campaign, which will incite patients to put pressure
on their local providers of cosmetic injectables treatments to join the
register in conjunction with support from their local MP. As members of www.TreatmentsYouCanTrust.org.uk
have voluntarily signaled their commitment to administering injectables to high
standards, so patients can logically ask why an unregistered provider has not,
and question if they are safe.
Private treatment news: 5 February 2012
