§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will legislate to restrict the use of the term cosmetic surgeon to doctors with specialist qualifications and membership of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons or the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. [34164]
§ Mr. BoatengLegislation would not be practicable because cosmetic surgery is not a defined specialty and not all cosmetic surgery practitioners are plastic surgeons.
§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the number of(a) men and (b) women who have undergone cosmetic surgery in each year since 1990. [34163]
§ Mr. BoatengIt is not possible to estimate the number of people who have undergone cosmetic surgery because it is not a defined medical specialty. Available information relates to the number of consultant episodes of treatment in which an operation or procedure was recorded "for purposes other than for remedying health states".
In 1994/95 there were 3,676 such episodes in the National Health Service in England.