ASPS welcomes the new standards, announced today, for facilities in Australia where cosmetic surgery is performed. 

Specialist Plastic Surgeons have been calling for such changes for many years.  We cannot tolerate the situation in Australia where rogue practitioners are performing cosmetic procedures in unhygienic, inappropriate premises.

There is no doubt that the various regulatory changes to-date have put cosmetic surgery on a safer footing in Australia.  However, ASPS does have some concerns about some of the details and more work needs to be done. 

In regards to psychological assessment and consent processes, it is important that the confidential doctor-patient relationship is preserved, and that the implementation of these new standards does not mean that hospital administrators are able to look at psychological test results or private patient details of consultations.

Standards should be implemented in a way that mean private hospitals are not overloaded with paperwork.  If they are, these institutions may refuse to host cosmetic surgery and patients may be pushed overseas. 

Finally, ASPS believes the standards do not go far enough in regards to the accreditation of doctors.  As it is the standards do not require practitioners performing cosmetic surgery to be qualified surgeons.  This is a significant gap. 

Cosmetic surgery is real surgery and should only be performed by surgeons. This is what the Australian community expect and deserve.

Download the National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards here.

Ends

Attribution: Associate Professor, Dr Nicola Dean, president Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons

For further information, pls contact Sandra Hogg, Mohr PR on +61 403 823 218

Like Share