Substandard cosmetic surgery clinics to be named and shamed

Cosmetic surgery clinics that fail to provide good quality care will be named and shamed for the first time under government plans.

Clinics offering such cosmetic procedures are to be rated online, which Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, said would help “end the lottery of poor practice”.

An eight-week consultation will be launched on Monday by the Department of Health. It wants to expand the ratings programme that is run by the health regulator, the Care Quality Commission, and applies to NHS services such as hospitals and GP surgeries.

Up to 100 cosmetic surgery clinics will be given transparent ratings that will give potential users a simple guide to the quality of the clinics in their area. There will be four ratings: outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

The government has been trying to ensure safer cosmetic surgery for patients since the PIP breast implant scandal in 2012, which led to the Keogh Review in 2013.

Hunt said: “Our proposals to extend the CQC’s powers to rate more providers are an important step forward in improving standards and will help to end the lottery of poor practice in parts of the cosmetic industry.”

The proposals also involve rating up to 1,000 providers of procedures and services including substance misuse centres, refractive eye surgery providers, independent community health providers, ambulance services and dialysis units. Clinics offering termination of pregnancy services could also be rated.

The announcement comes after Marie Stopes International suspended abortions for all under-18s and vulnerable groups of women and sent hundreds of them to other clinics following surprise inspections by the CQC. The health regulator had “specific immediate concerns” about consent, training and the competence of staff.

More than 10,000 providers have been rated by the CQC since 2014 but it has focused on providers with the most patients, including NHS trusts, foundation trusts, GP practices, adult social care providers and independent hospitals.

Douglas McGeorge, consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), said the proposals were welcomed by the industry. However, he said the ratings would apply to the facilities rather than clinicians, so users still needed to be “extremely vigilant” and check their surgeon’s credentials.

“We welcome – and indeed, have been calling for during the last decade – as much government scrutiny as is possible of the cosmetic sector. This is an arena where regulation has historically been lax and many practitioners can engage in procedures they are not trained or even qualified to perform,” he said.

The CQC’s remit will involve inspecting a facility or practice’s equipment, record-keeping and administrative areas, rather than individual surgeons, McGeorge said.

The Department of Health said: “Shining a light on poor care in this manner is an essential part of developing an open and honest learning culture, where mistakes are acted upon and prevented from reoccurring.

“Since the PIP breast implant scandal in 2012, we have made good progress raising the standards of care in the cosmetics industry so patients can feel confident they are getting the best care from professionals with the right qualifications.”

Substandard cosmetic surgery clinics to be named and shamed