BAAPS throws support behind Professional Standards for Cosmetic Practice report

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) has welcomed the publication of the Professional Standards for Cosmetic Practice report, published by the Cosmetic Surgical Practice Working Group.

The report outlines the urgent need for stricter controls in the cosmetic sector, which will feed into the call for evidence of Sir Bruce Keogh’s review, scheduled to conclude in March with recommendations for an industry regulation framework.

However, the BAAPS have stated that they would like to see even more in-depth recommendations with regard to patient consultation, as the BAAPS President Rajiv Grover explained: “At the heart of a proper patient consultation lies fully informed consent; conveying the elements of medical and psychological assessment, treatment options, providing a realistic idea of likely outcome and possible risks is essential. For consent to really qualify as “informed consent” however, the BAAPS would go a stage further than this report and unambiguously specify that the consultations must only ever be with the surgeon who will actually carry out the procedure.”

Grover added: “The entire aesthetics sector now awaits the delivery of the Keogh review, to establish future strategy for regulation and protection of the public – and we look forward to helping define the shape of things to come.”

The BAAPS also expressed its continuing support for an outright ban on the advertising of cosmetic procedures in public places, a move that the organisation called for in May last year.