On 20 October, Kevan introduced a bill to make cosmetic surgery safer.
Kevan’s 10 minute rule bill, a type of private members’ bill, would ensure people carrying out cosmetic surgery are properly trained, establish a code to ensure patients are properly informed about any risks, and set out what sort of treatment can be offered.
During his speech Kevan said, “aggressive” marketing techniques should be banned – and said the way some cosmetic surgery firms behaved was “more appropriate for selling double glazing”.
He told the House of Commons: “We have here a classic example of the market not only failing but being used to exploit people, which is ruining their lives and costing the NHS millions of pounds a year.”
Kevan became aware of the scandal around the £3.5 billion-a-year cosmetic surgery industry through a constituent who had surgery which left her unable to close her eyes. To this day she needs to apply special eye-drops every two hours to stop them drying out.
The NHS was now having “to pick up the bill” for her care, Kevan told MPs.
The law currently allows any qualified doctor – rather than a surgeon – to perform cosmetic surgery without undertaking additional training or qualifications.
Kevan’s Bill aims to close this loophole. It has the support of the Royal College of Surgeons and will receive a second reading on March 24 2017.
To read Kevan’s speech in full, follow the link below:
https://goo.gl/oasX3p
Radio 4’s You and Yours also covered the story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z3cgq