Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an ombudsman to oversee the regulation of cosmetic procedures.

The Government is committed to improving the safety of cosmetic procedures through better training for practitioners, and better information so that people can make informed decisions about their care.

In January 2012, Sir Bruce Keogh was asked by the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Rt. hon. Jeremy Hunt MP) to carry out a review of the regulation of cosmetic interventions following the Poly Implant Prothèse breast implants scandal. Recommendation 34 covered potentially expanding the remit of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to cover the whole private healthcare sector, including cosmetic procedures.

The Government’s Cosmetic Interventions Working Group subsequently evaluated the feasibility of including private health services in the remit of the Ombudsman. This process identified a number of issues that would need to be resolved before such a change could be made.

Consumers opting for cosmetic procedures are protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other forms of legal redress including the Independent Healthcare Advisory Services and the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service.