Today, The Sydney Morning Herald, published a story of the medical regulator releasing a multi-year plan to create new accreditation standards for cosmetic surgery.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is releasing a report on Thursday regarding an external review carried out on the cosmetic surgery industry and they promise a $4.5 million cosmetic surgery enforcement unit and social media crackdown. While this is a great initiative, it will not take effect for two to three years and experts warn it may allow current practising cosmetic surgeons to have all training and experienced recognised through “grandfathering”.
Dr Sally Langley from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons said authorities should ensure surgical procedures “are only undertaken by properly qualified surgeons” that undertake at least eight years of study after obtaining a medical degree and participate in ongoing training and development as a large majority of cosmetic surgeons only obtain a medical degree and a short weekend course.
The plan comes after the external review sparked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s joint investigation where Andrew Brown, Queensland’s Health ombudsman found minimum standards for education, training and qualifications were “non-existent” in cosmetic surgery.
The full story by The Sydney Morning Herald can be found here: Regulator announces cosmetic surgery crackdown but won’t hit pause on $1.4b industry.
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If you or anyone you know has suffered as a result of a cosmetic surgery negligence, please contact our medical negligence team on 13 43 63.
At Turner Freeman, we have specialist medical negligence lawyers who will assess your case and provide personalised advice regarding your legal entitlements. Our medical negligence lawyers are located across NSW including in our offices in Parramatta, Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and Toronto.
