Treatments You Can Trust

By: Katharine Griffiths
Created on 09th December 2010

The self-regulatory scheme, Treatments You Can Trust, launched to the public on 13 September. We talk with Sally Taber about progress so far, lessons learnt and plans for the future

The explosion of cosmetic injectables in recent years has seen a rise in ‘rogue’ practitioners with treatments being offered in totally inappropriate venues, from nail bars to Botox parties.

This led to the establishment of a government-backed selfregulatory scheme for cosmetic injectable treatments, called Treatments You Can Trust, which launched to the public in September.

Sally Taber, who is responsible for the management of the standards and training principles for Treatments You Can Trust, gives her view on what has been happening since then:

Progress so far

The launch to both consumers and the trade has been good in some aspects. We had a very positive reaction from the dentists and many of the principals in the aesthetic industry.

Interestingly, as a result, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has realised that there has been instances of bad practice, particularly in relation to remote prescribing, so they are coming out with stricter guidelines for registered nurses off the back of it.

Our contact for the Ramsay Health Care Group, has told us that within the first four weeks, they had four enquiries based on appearing on the website.

However, while the scheme has won support from many, it has also come under fire from leading organisations, particularly the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. We found the reaction of the surgeons very disappointing as we weren’t expecting it. We all want regulation but selfregulation is the scheme we have to work with.

BAAPS is lobbying for European-wide regulation and there has been a call from Austria for this to take place. However, it is not definite that this will happen and the shortest possible timescale for this to come into effect would be two years and there is bad practice going on at the moment so we can’t wait.

Lessons learnt

The main lesson we’ve learnt is that maybe we didn’t do enough to get BAAPS, BACD and the other organisations on board before we launched. That’s been a disappointment but we’re striving to get them to work with us rather than against us.

Plans for the future

We are trying to get the message to consumers that at this time of year – when you’re under pressure to look good for the festive season – it’s important to go to appropriately trained practitioners and clinics. Don’t just go for cheapest option.

We have also recently announced to key industry members that we are launching a Governance Group with members drawn from professional, consumer and patient bodies, the government and the industry.

Once the Chair has officially confirmed – they have done so verbally – then we will be issuing formal invitations and then the Group will be starting its work, reviewing the standards we’ve established and our progress to date. #

I have also extended an invitation to BAAPS immediate Past President Mr Nigel Mercer to sit on the Group as a representative of UK cosmetic surgeons and I’m waiting to hear if he will take us up on our offer.

This is a brand new scheme and there is nothing like it anywhere else in Europe so we need to constantly work to improve the scheme and website to make it the best it can be.