Scottish Parliament publishes Bill to regulate non-surgical procedures
The Scottish Parliament has published a Bill to introduce regulation of commonly performed non-surgical procedures. Professionals have until mid-November to register their views and experiences, before the Bill moves it its next stage.
The Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Bill will make it an offence for a number of non-surgical procedures to be performed away from ‘permitted premises' or to under 18s.
If passed, the Bill will afford Healthcare Improvement Scotland new powers enabling them to enter and search premises if it is suspected that a breach of these offences has taken place.
Stage 1 of the Bill proposes the following procedures, which pierce or penetrate the skin, should be included:
- Ablative laser treatment, e.g. laser skin resurfacing
- Cellulite subcision, e.g. cellulite dimple removal or Cellfin®
- Chemical peel, e.g. skin peel or facial peel
- Dermal microcoring e.g. Ellaco® Treatment, removal of tiny cores of skin using hollow needles.
- Injectable procedure, e.g. Botov® injections, dermal fillers (including non-surgical Brazilian Butt Lift), excluding tattooing
- Intravenous procedure, e.g. IV drip therapy, beauty IV drips
- Microneedling, e.g. skin needling, Dermape® microneedling
- Thread Lift, e.g. PDO (Polydioxanone), PLLA (Poly-L-Lactic Acid), cat or fox eye thread lift
Permitted premises would include:
- an independent hospital registered with Health Improvement Scotland (HIS).
- an independent clinic registered with HIS and where services are provided or managed by a registered medical or dental practitioner, a registered nurse or midwife who is an independent prescriber or a pharmacist independent prescriber.
- GP and dental practices which provide NHS services and registered pharmacies, which are exempt from the requirement to register with HIS under the 1978 Act and are often already regulated by the NHS and/or professional regulatory bodies.
The Bill also allows for additional regulation including who can provide these treatments and training and qualification requirements.
Commenting, Jenni Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, said:
“Our aim is to ensure there is robust and proportionate regulation in place so that anyone who chooses to have these procedures can do so safely.
“We have worked with a range of stakeholders including business owners, healthcare professionals, non-healthcare practitioners, environmental health officers and professional regulators to develop our proposals.
“Our priority is to address the public safety concerns that exist in this sector, whilst ensuring businesses that may be impacted are able to access support.”
The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee is inviting those who have experience of providing, accessing or receiving non-surgical procedures to submit their views via a
digital platform before 14th November 2025.
A lead committee will consider and report, followed by which there will be debate and vote by all MSPs before the Bill can come into law.
