IHAS REGISTER OF INJECTABLE COSMETIC PROVIDERS QUALITY ASSURANCE MARK

With the backing of Government Ministers and funding from the Department of Health, the IHAS Register of Injectable Cosmetic Providers went live to providers only on 13th of April 2010 – enabling providers to apply for registration through www.treatmentsyoucantrust.co.uk.

The IHAS Register of Injectable Cosmetic Providers, which goes live to the public in May, background screens, and registers Quality Assurance Mark approval for regulated healthcare professionals (doctors, registered nurses and dentists) and organisations and facilities involved in injectable cosmetics.

Providers can apply for registration through www.treatmentsyoucantrust.co.uk where they will fill in self assessment documents and submit supporting evidence. The IHAS Quality Assurance Mark will start with the registration (£50 fee) of organisations where practitioners are providing injectable cosmetic treatments, as well as registering solo practitioners working in facilities where injectable cosmetic treatments are provided.

There are currently an estimated 5,000 facilities carrying out an estimated 200,000 treatments a year in the UK and, until now, with treatments being cosmetic and non-surgical, providers of injectable cosmetic treatments have fallen outside the scope of watchdogs at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the other regulators in the devolved administrations.

The increasing reports of unqualified providers, inappropriate treatment environments and incidents of remote prescribing have concerned healthcare professionals in the cosmetic treatments sector, who championed the need for closer scrutiny in this area. The launch of the IHAS Register of Injectable Cosmetic Providers comes after six years of discussion between the industry and health officials about how patient protection could be improved in the booming market of injectable cosmetic treatments.
Says Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen, Chair of the IHAS Injectable Cosmetic Providers Working Group: “Despite consumer pressure for a statutory regulatory scheme to cover the provision of cosmetic injectables over the last five years, Ministers and the Department of Health asked IHAS to set up an industry-led system. Sadly, we believe that as statutory regulation has been excluded it is not an option, so a Register of screened, regulated healthcare professionals operating in organisations and facilities where these injectable cosmetic treatments are provided is essential to protect patient safety.”

Key points in the IHAS standards include:

·         Health and safety – Policy and standard operating procedures need to be in place and implemented for safe and effective selection, procurement, supply, storage, prescription, administration, disposal and review of medicines.
·         Face-to-face consultation – All patients must have a face-to-face consultation with the prescriber prior to the administration or subsequent use of a prescription and/or a patient specific direction.
·         Consent to treatment – Written informed consent is obtained prior to the administration of any injectable cosmetic treatment and the completed consent form must be kept in the patient’s record of treatment.·         Patient care and provider competency – To ensure that the provider has the appropriate clinical qualifications and can provide the highest level of care, to make a safe assessment as to the suitability of treatment based on the medical history of the patient prior to the commencement of any injectable cosmetic treatment. Patients must also be assured that the providers have received appropriate training and are competent in the injectable cosmetic treatment procedure.
Applications for registration on the scheme will be reviewed by a team of experts, who will also run inspections by conducting site visits randomly selected, with only 24 hours’ prior notice to providers. CHKS, the UK’s leading independent provider of healthcare intelligence and quality improvement services, is providing the third party, background screening and web based registration scheme as well as the inspection programme.

Once an organisation, solo practitioner and/or facility where these injectable cosmetic treatments are provided is accepted onto the register, there will be an annual cost dependent on the size of the organisation, starting from £500. For registered providers with more than 10 clinics an additional cost of £200 will apply for each clinic. All funds generated will be reinvested into the running of the register.

Registration will last for a twelve month period from the date it is awarded and needs to be annually renewed to ensure registration is based on up-to-date information. All providers who successfully register on the scheme will be able to carry the IHAS Quality Assurance Mark – the logo for consumers to look out for when choosing a provider. Registered clinics will be able to display the mark for consumers to see.

Over 100 clinics, including those run by The Harley Medical Group, Transform, sk:n, Mapperley Park Clinic, Bupa Dental and Medizen, have already shown their commitment to registering their clinics on the scheme.

Says Sally Taber, Director at the IHAS, “The success of the IHAS Register of Injectable Cosmetic Providers depends on two things. First, encouraging appropriately qualified providers to join a national register and secondly for patients to be encouraged, through a long term programme of profile raising, to choose only those providers that are registered.

“Organisations and solo practitioners that have been accepted for registration will be clearly listed on the scheme’s website, signposting patients to providers who are offering the care which accords with the standards and encouraging other providers to follow suit.”

From May this year, the IHAS Quality Assurance Mark will be heavily promoted to the public through a major public awareness campaign and nationwide advertising campaign as the official quality mark to look out for when considering injectable cosmetic treatments. It is predicted that www.treatmentsyoucantrust.co.uk site will provide a much valued resource to consumers searching for a trustworthy local provider, acting as a comprehensive directory of Quality Assured providers.