The British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN) has released its view on the All Party Parliamentary Group on Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing (APPG) final report which was released on Wednesday.
The BACN states that it regards the report as the first stage in a process to convince the Government to take strong action to regulate the sector. The BACN argued that the process of care required and understanding the risks associated with underlying medical conditions can only be appropriately achieved by having a medical or nursing qualification and cannot be taught in any vocational course, which was outlined in point five of the final report.
The BACN notes that this recommendation has not been accepted by the APPG and urges the Government to reconsider this option.
However, the BACN does support many of the recommendations in the report, particularly setting national minimum standards for training and the need for recognised qualifications in order to practice, and on site medical oversight for aesthetic non-surgical cosmetic treatments using prescription only medicine. The suggestions for dermal fillers being classified as prescription only devices, a greater focus on social media and advertising, and a requirement for adequate and robust insurance cover were also supported by the BACN.
Chair of the BACN, nurse prescriber Sharon Bennett, commented, “The BACN will contribute to enter into further discussions with government and stakeholders as required and seek to hasten the initiation of some of these recommendations whilst continuing to make the case that invasive procedures such as botulinum toxin, dermal fillers and PDO cogs and threads should be restricted to registered medical practitioners.”
