The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners

The Medical Council of New Zealand is reviewing its Statement on Cosmetic Procedures. This follows on from a review in November 2010.

The Medical Council is proposing that until a formal tumescent liposuction training programme for general practitioners can be developed, the Interim policy for doctors registered in a vocational scope of general practice who wish to perform tumescent liposuction should be retained, with some amendments to provide greater surety of competence.

The Council also proposes to include a new clause in the Statement on cosmetic procedures which states that doctors who are not vocationally registered can only perform category I procedures if they are enrolled in a relevant vocational training programme.

This will mean that such doctors will not be permitted to rely on a collegial relationship for this purpose. Doctors who are enrolled in the RNZCGP training programme will be permitted to perform tumescent liposuction only if they also meet the requirements of the Council's Interim policy for doctors registered in a general scope or a vocational scope of general practice who wish to perform tumescent liposuction.

A copy of the revised statement and the interim policy, with all proposed changes tracked, available here.

The College is responding to this consultation and would welcome your views. Please send your feedback to the College Policy team by 12 August 2011.