JCCP removes beauty therapists from its registers for injectables

The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP) has removed beauty therapists from its registers for Level 7 treatments such as dermal fillers.

The major change in policy comes after the body received significant backlash from medics to its practitioner registers, which were launched in March, and included one for medics, and a second for non-medics, who otherwise have no regulator. Under the terms of the registers, non-medics were, at the time, permitted to inject dermal fillers providing they had trained to Level 7 and were overseen by a medical practitioner.

Today (August 3), JCCP chair Professor David Sines told Professional Beauty, "There was a lot of negative social media about the registers and we are certainly not giving in to that". Instead, he said, the decision was made "on the basis of consideration of potential risks, lack of evidence, lack of training courses, and no non-healthcare professionals even contacting us to enquire about registering."

The council said in a statment: "The JCCP Board met on July 31, 2018, to review progress relating to the Practitioner Register and to review the many communications it has received about allowing non-healthcare practitioners to register at L7 for the administration of injectables and fillers.

"The JCCP has now determined that Level 7 treatments that involve injectables and dermal fillers should be performed only by relevantly trained, experienced and proficient healthcare professionals who are registered on Part 1 of the JCCP Register."

"The JCCP will therefore now suspend access to its Register for all non-healthcare practitioners who practise Level 7 injectable and/or dermal fillers procedures for a period of three years whilst a detailed evaluation can take place of the ‘risks’ involved to the general public and will use this period to resubmit the case for statutory regulation of the whole sector to the Department of Health and Social Care. The JCCP Trustee Board has endorsed this position and has decided to implement the changes as proposed."

The second register of non-healthcare practitioners will remain open to therapists trained up to Level 6 but will not allow therapists to perform Level 7 treatments. 

The move comes just months after JCCP chair Professor David Sines defended the JCCP's original position during a Radio 4 interview. 

Sines also told Professional Beauty that the change of direction is a marker of renewed Government focus around who should be allowed to inject, following a meeting in May, between Prime Minister Teresa May and Safety in Beauty founder Antonia Mariconda. He added "On May 11, the Department of Health actually got a new team together to consider the issues of regulation. The minister, who is an undersecretary of state for health, is called Jackie Doyle-Price and in her portfolio she has inequalities, mental health and cosmetic regulation so this is all new and we are all picking up an appetite for further dialogue."

The JCCP was formed as a Government-approved not-for-profit organisation to maintain a register of practitioners. The JCCP has input from medic groups such as the British Association of Aesthetic Nurses and the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, but also from beauty-focused groups such as Habia and Babtac. 

It is still not illegal for beauty therapists to inject - the JCCP registers are currently voluntary. However, Sines said he hoped they will eventually become mandated into law. He added, "I think it’s a real possibility in the future and have always argued that the JCCP should be a means to an end."