Scotland ‘worst in Europe’ for unregulated fillers

Frances Turner Traill, a prescribing nurse and director of the registered clinic that helped Renata, fears that without regulation patients could die.

“It’s a very poor situation and unfortunately Scotland is the worst in the UK, and the UK is the worst in Europe,” she said.

“It’s been 10 years that myself and colleagues have sat round the table with the Scottish government and very little has been done and it’s inexcusable, because the public is now injecting the public without any redress.”

Doctors in the field say the current lack of regulation has created a two-tier system.

“It is currently completely legal for a plumber or a hairdresser to inject a 16-year-old girl in the back of a van with no recourse,” said Dr Demosthenous.

“A non-medic can pretty much do whatever they want, anywhere they want, whereas if I were to start treating patients in a premises that wasn’t registered by the health board, I could be prosecuted.”

He said it is vital that these procedures are carried out by trained professionals because they have the medical knowledge on how to safely inject and treat complications, and advise patients when treatment is not necessary.

In a statement to BBC Scotland News, Scotland’s healthcare watchdog has now called for rules to ensure that only trained clinicians can carry out these procedures.

A spokesperson for Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) said: “We believe that the best way for the public to stay safe is for cosmetic treatments to be provided from regulated providers, by appropriately trained and qualified healthcare professionals.

“People should always check that a clinic is registered with HIS before undertaking treatments.”