The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP) has two registers: one for educational providers that meet its rigorous delivery and assessment standards, and the second for professionals that meet its requirements and experience. The practitioner register is also split into two parts for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and for beauty therapists, the latter only allowing for registration in certain skin-based modalities up to a certain level, notably not injectables or hair restoration surgery. Ensuring that this register is robust, fit for purpose and equitable are Andrew Rankin and Professor Mary Lovegrove OBE. Andrew is an aesthetic nurse who is well known for previously residing as Vice Chair of the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN) and producing many thorough protocols and policy documents within the sector as a whole.
Mary is an Emeritus Professor of Education and Development for allied health professions at London South Bank University and a diagnostic radiographer. She is another board member who came to the table without hands-on experience in aesthetics, but has an incredible and diverse history in healthcare leadership and education. Mary has vast research experience and has led a number of European and international projects associated with workforce improvements and education developments for allied health, including in China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore. Her experience and roles in various other committees and projects puts her in a unique and qualified position to grow the register in an ethical and duteous direction.
Inclusivity in aesthetics
It is common knowledge that, since its creation, the JCCP was asked to be inclusive of all professions and bring about the same standards and regulations for both health professionals and beauty therapists. Understandably, this was met with concern and anger. However, sometimes it is important to take a step back and remember that there are many conscientious beauty professionals who take their training and client safety seriously and do not believe in administering treatments such as botox, dermal fillers and thread lifts, which may be predominantly cosmetic in purpose, but medical in nature. There are copious numbers of beauty therapists who have been performing valuable treatments in their scope for a long time, and their knowledge and skill in their field deserves merit.
One such person is Diane Hey, who sits on both the Practitioner Register Committee and Education and Training Committee. With over 34 years in the beauty sector as a therapist, employer, educator, assessor, quality lead and advisor, Diane has been integral to advising the JCCP on the standards she was part of creating and assessing under the Government-appointed Standard Setting Body and Sector Skills Council, Hair and Beauty Industry Authority (HABIA) and SkillsActive.
The JCCP may not believe that beauty therapists are correctly positioned or properly equipped to enter into injectables, based on the lack of regulating presence and adequate qualifications, but this does not mean that it ever undervalued their significance in modalities and levels of skin-based treatments, such as peels and microneedling, and it is unfortunate that, not unlike aesthetics, there is not one unified regulatory body for the beauty profession, which many in the industry would welcome. Diane has spent years of her career working with the Government creating and implementing frameworks and standards for beauty professionals to align themselves to, and she carries this commitment through to the JCCP.
Policing statutory regulation
Another exceptionally valuable and distinctive member of the board is Victor Ktorakis, a chartered environmental health practitioner with over 16 years of experience in the public sector. Victor has been the lead for special treatments licensing for the London Borough of Enfield for 13 years and specialises in health and safety. One of the many conundrums that the Council faces is, should statutory regulation on the qualification of aesthetic practitioners and premises conditions be achieved, how can it then be policed? As one of the Chairs for the London Special Treatments Working Group, made up of representatives of all 33 of the London boroughs, Victor was appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees for the JCCP to assist and advise in matters involving the regulation of the beauty and aesthetics sector. In a guest blog for the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), Victor said: ‘I often get asked in my role as an Environmental Health Practitioner if there is a need for new direct legislation. The answer to this, in my opinion, is yes. Current legislation is outdated and does not cover the plethora of treatments that are and will be offered in the 21st century. Local authority officers need to have direct powers to stop an unlicensed or untrained therapist from carrying out treatments' (Ktorakis, 2019).
The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners continues to campaign for tighter restrictions in both surgical and non-surgical practice
The consequences of poor practice
The JCCP's patient representative and Trustee Board Member Dawn Knight cannot be commended enough for her work in and passion for regulating non-surgical aesthetics. Dawn was a victim of malpractice herself when a surgeon caused severe damage and injury to her upper eyelids. She has since spent years in a personal battle against their poor practice and her own physical and mental pain, inspiring her to campaign for tighter restrictions in both surgical and non-surgical cosmetics. The slow or limited responses from the Government and the Department of Health and Social Care to the JCCP and the sector's well-documented concerns so far have been immensely wearisome for Dawn to observe, but her determination remains unwavering. She has appeared on many interviews for radio, television and publications, tirelessly championing industry causes with the likes of the Mental Health Foundation, Members of Parliament, the Advertising Standards Agency and even Facebook. She is a constant reminder of why the public deserve better assurances and better education on cosmetic interventions.
Chair of Marketing and Communications
I will also take this opportunity to mention my own role in the JCCP as Chair of Marketing and Communications. I was a relative latecomer to the Council, and one who had previously dissented to everything from its formation to the people, the policies and, of course, the inclusion of beauty therapists in injectables. When the JCCP took the decision to suspend beauty therapists from the register for injectables, it was not a decision that they took lightly, but the remits made by the Government tied them into a difficult position of being an authority within aesthetics without the means to penalise. The simple facts remained that therapists are not legally required to meet a certain qualification, register to a regulating body or hold insurance, and that was not something that the board, in good conscience, could ignore. This removed a major hurdle regarding myself joining the council, and from here, my own personal aim was to help the Council convince both aesthetic practitioners and the Government that action needed to be taken immediately to clean up a chaotic, hazardous sector, and that this might not be as simple as a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather, a strategic, multi-pronged one. All aesthetic registers have suffered from the same affliction of educating the public on the risks of a poorly regulated industry, and without Government backing and tighter restrictions on promotion, this will always remain a challenge.
Finally, as a board member, I can attest that the council works incredibly hard behind the scenes lobbying the Government and highlighting the significant pitfalls in non-surgical aesthetics. We do not work for profit or for notoriety; we work to fix problems that should never have been allowed to occur in the UK. Some significant mention should also go to those sitting on our committees, from businesses like Church Pharmacy, Hamilton Fraser and Allergan, to nurses, surgeons and doctors, many of whom have dedicated their time and efforts to our cause since the formation of a Health Education Committee in 2013. The JCCP is not a body working for its own interests, but is instead a council that unites individuals from, sometimes, conflicting backgrounds and positions under the mission of greater patient safety. For those who are still reticent in supporting it, I would first ask them to talk to the Council and get to know its members, as we are here to listen and engage. It also, perhaps, serves as a reminder that unexpected collaborations can work and compromises can be made in the name of a bigger cause.