Ahpra and the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) have accepted all 16 recommendations made by the independent review of medical practitioners who perform cosmetic surgery. The report developed by an expert panel commissioned by Ahpra and the MBA, highlights unsafe practice, misleading advertising and substandard marketing across the cosmetic industry. Ahpra has committed $4.5 million to a targeted Cosmetic Surgery Enforcement Unit to accelerate action and step up enforcement.

The College welcomes these measures to better protect and educate patients regarding these services. Running parallel with this review, a Regulatory Impact Study (RIS) assessment is being undertaken which is considering restricting use of the title of surgeon. ACRRM sees a potential risk of perverse consequences in some of the proposed regulations. These could potentially restrict our members’ capacity to provide the broad scope of skilled services (including surgical services) for which they are trained and which enable access to essential care for many rural and remote people. The College has made submissions on these issues. 
 
The issue of protecting the title “surgeon” is currently under consideration by the Ministerial Council and subject to a regulation impact statement consultation. The consultation process closed in April this year and we await the outcome - you can read the ACRRM Submission to the Consultation RIS here