Amendments to the regulation of independent health care

Overview

The providers of independent health care in Scotland and the UK are many and varied, and the complexity of this area of health care provision continues to increase. The Scottish Government wants all health care provided to people in Scotland to be safe, appropriate and carried out by those with the right qualifications.  

To achieve this vision, we need to ensure that independent health care services provided in Scotland are effectively regulated. We want the regulation of independent health care in Scotland to reflect the current landscape of provision, which includes an increasing number of services provided online. It is also important that this regulation is self-funding. 

We ran a consultation in 2020, which focused on non-surgical cosmetic procedures which pierce or penetrate the skin, such as lip enhancements and dermal fillers.  This consultation also asked whether services provided by pharmacists who undertake independent health care practices (including non-surgical cosmetic procedures), outwith the terms of an NHS contract should be regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.   

As the independent health care landscape in Scotland continues to change, we believe this may mean that the way independent health care is regulated needs to be updated. We are taking this opportunity to run a new consultation to seek views as to whether further change is needed and how it should happen.  

Proposals

We are proposing to make three changes to the way independent health care in Scotland is regulated:

1. Enable Healthcare Improvement Scotland to regulate independent health care services provided by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians which are not provided under the terms of an NHS contract or from non-General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registered premises;

2. Enable Healthcare Improvement Scotland to regulate independent medical agencies providing health care services which consist of or include the provision of services by a medical practitioner, dental practitioner, registered nurse, registered midwife, dental care professional, pharmacist, or pharmacy technician.  This would include independent medical agencies operating entirely online. However, services provided by either a pharmacist or pharmacy technician in pharmacy premises registered with the GPhC or a nurse agency regulated by the Care Inspectorate (officially known as Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland) would be exempt; and

3. Enable Healthcare Improvement Scotland to cancel the registration of any independent health care service where there has been a failure to pay  continuation fees.

Read the full consultation paper on gov.scot

Why your views matter

As the independent health care landscape in Scotland evolves, we believe the way independent health care is regulated may need to be updated.

We are running this consultation to seek views as to whether further change is needed and how it should happen.

What happens next

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public at http://consult.gov.scot. If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so. An analysis report will also be made available.