Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group Report July 2015

Annex 4: Methodology for the gathering the views of the public & practitioners

Evidence was required to support the development of SCIEG's recommendations, including determining the most appropriate role for government in this area. In particular, evidence is needed to determine the current use of different types of cosmetic intervention services (including by population subgroups of interest), their associated risks and benefits, and develop an understanding of public expectations for governmental safeguards for the sector.

Scottish Government's Analytical Services Division developed and devised an analytical programme that could be adopted to gather appropriate evidence for this work.

Background and objectives

There is currently a lack of objective data on the uptake of cosmetic interventions and the magnitude of any harms experienced in the Scottish population as a result. Previous qualitative research has been conducted in England to inform the Keogh review and identified a desire for regulation of the cosmetic interventions sector, to safeguard the care of patients.

Further evidence is required to inform SCIEG's deliberations. Accurate and unbiased evidence that robustly demonstrates the population situation in Scotland is unlikely to be possible. However the specific high-level objectives for the evidence gathering process include:

• Scope the range of cosmetic intervention services (i.e. types of intervention) and providers (i.e. practitioners/professionals who provide the service) in Scotland
• Review the evidence on the potential health benefits and risk of cosmetic interventions services
• Determine the uptake of different types of cosmetic intervention services, by subgroups of interest
• Understand service providers' views about current regulation, required developments and potential implementation challenges
• Explore public understanding, by subgroups required for market segmentation, of the risks and benefits of cosmetic interventions and establish if there is unmet need for public education in this area
• Explore consumers' understanding of the risks and benefits of cosmetic interventions and establish if information provision (including for the consent process) is accurate and balanced
• Explore public understanding of the risks and benefits of cosmetic intervention services and establish if marketing of services is accurate and balanced
• Understand consumers' and public expectations of mechanisms to assure safe, effective and quality care when they undergo cosmetic interventions, including their expectations of regulation
• Understand consumers' and public expectations of the role of the NHS in safeguarding health following cosmetic intervention services
• Develop population-based monitoring of uptake and rate of complications of cosmetic intervention services in Scotland
• Develop an evaluation framework for the impact of government intervention in this area

In order to fulfil the eleven stated objectives, the following approaches to gathering evidence are being enacted.