You may be aware that from October 1st 2010, the ‘cosmetic' use of lasers – and many surgical techniques - will cease to be regulated by government agents, the Care Quality Commission and this will have both public safety and tax implications.

Please be assured that Mapperley Park Clinic will remain registered with and regulated by the Care Quality Commission as a provider of surgical, medical and diagnostic treatments of the very highest standards, however, we may have to charge VAT on some of our services.

Mapperley Park Clinic has been active as a vigorous opponent to what is in fact, unreasoned market liberalisation; we believe that government remains responsible for public safety in the regulation of hazardous technologies and techniques but, government prefers to lose the cost of regulation and gain the revenue from taxation while returning the risks for you, the consumer to assess and determine.

The implications of this decision are still unfolding and currently include that:

• Anyone at all can operate previously restricted class 4 lasers and light systems from any place without training or any safety systems.
• Some medical ‘knife-to-skin’ procedures, previously restricted to state-registered premises, may also be delivered by anyone, from any place and without training or safety control.
• VAT will apply to many, if not all ‘purely cosmetic' services.

A more detailed assessment of the VAT position is available elsewhere in the news section

What does this mean for you? 

If the treatment you are offered is for ‘purely cosmetic’ purposes, then VAT at 17.5% will apply.

If the treatment is for the purpose of treating ‘Disease, Disorder or Injury (DDI), VAT will not apply.

From October 1st, we will have to assess whether your treatment is ‘purely cosmetic’ or for treatment of DDI.

We are not helped by the fact that there are no clear instructions or guidelines as to how we should make such decisions – this will evolve over time as decisions are challenged and a set of precedents is established that defines this new landscape.

Until then, we have to decide how to apply new legislation and these documents explain to you – in as little or as much detail as you need – precisely how we will go about fulfilling our legal obligations.

New service providers will certainly arise in this unregulated territory (and many existing providers will cease to be regulated) and we are very concerned that in what we know to be an area of required expertise and experience will become open to untrained and unskilled persons, delivering substandard and potentially dangerous treatments.

We are also alarmed at the recent explosion in the sale and use of low-cost, low-grade equipment being imported on-line, primarily from China, for use by these same untrained and unskilled service providers and suggest that you take great care when deciding who should deliver your cosmetic treatment for government refuses to accept that a public health risk exists here, believing that it is solely your responsibility to ensure your own safety, thereby assuming your expertise in deciding who to choose for your cosmetic procedure.

For safety and quality, it will always be safer to seek cosmetic medical services from a Care Quality Commission registered provider. Prices may be higher, as a registered clinic bears responsibilities and costs not shared by the unregulated provider but a regulated provider will deliver an accountable standard of treatment where you may find little recourse or complaint in an unregistered provider.