Major Government Agency Opposes ACCS Bid for AMC Recognition
The Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council has soundly rejected the proposal by the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS) to the Australian Medical Council (AMC) that cosmetic surgery be recognised as a specialty.
They are joined in their position by a chorus of government agencies.
About the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS) – Accreditation and Recognition Issues Discussed
I am often contacted by confused intending consumers of cosmetic surgery who want to know about the standing of training that is provided by a private organisation which calls itself the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS).
Doctors who adhere to this group are mostly GP’s who seek to perform cosmetic surgery.
In an attempt to dispel some of the confusion, and to address some of the pertinent questions properly, and especially as I am not qualified myself to assess the worth of medical training provided by the ACCS, I have written to the Australian Medical Council (AMC) about the ACCS, and issues pertaining to accreditation and recognition in cosmetic surgery, for greater clarity on this matter.
At the end of the day, the upshot is this – medical training in cosmetic surgery provided by the ACCS is not recognised by the AMC, which is the only body nationally, that is authorised to accredit medical training programs on behalf of the Australian Government.
Therefore if a doctor tells you he is accredited by the ACCS, you need to bear in mind that this accreditation, does not in turn enjoy the backing of the AMC.
Further to this, cosmetic surgery is not a recognised specialty. So if a doctor says he/she is a ‘specialist in cosmetic surgery’, that is not true in the formal sense, since cosmetic surgery is not a recognised specialty.
The ACCS currently has an application for recognition of cosmetic surgery as a specialty in progress with the AMC.
To read submissions for and against click here.
Dr Michael Zacharia (left) a founding member of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS), and currently a conditionally registered doctor, appears to be handing an ACCS award to a colleague. ACCS awards are not accredited by the Australian Medical Council (AMC).
From: Deidre Nolan [mailto:deidre.nolan@yahoo.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 5 July 2010 4:33 PM
To: Australian Medical Council
Subject: Accreditation and Recognition
To whom it may concern,
Could you please assist me with the following inquiries?
1) Besides the AMC, what other body is authorised to recognise medical specialties or accredit medical training programs on behalf of the Australian Government?
2) Does the AMC currently recognise cosmetic surgery as a medical specialty?
3) Does the AMC currently accredit any training programs provided by The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery?
Thank you for helping me with these matters.
Yours sincerely
Deidre Nolan.
This is the response I received
| From: |
AMC Recognition recognition@amc.org.au
|
| To: | deidre.nolan@yahoo.com.au |
Dear Deidre,
Thank you for your enquiry concerning the recognition and accreditation of medical specialties. Responses to your questions are provided below:
1) Besides the AMC, what other body is authorised to recognise medical specialties or accredit medical training programs on behalf of the Australian Government?
The AMC is the national standards body for medical education and training in Australia . The AMC is the sole accrediting authority for Australian and New Zealand medical schools and medical courses and Australian/ Australasian programs of specialist medical training. The AMC is also responsible for providing advice to the Commonwealth Minister for Health and Ageing on the recognition of medical specialties.
Note at no stage is the AMC authorised to make a decision concerning the recognition of a medical specialty, the decision to recognise a medical specialty is currently made by the Commonwealth Minister for Health and Ageing.
As you may be aware, Australia ’s new national registration and accreditation scheme commenced on 1 July 2010. From this date, a new National Law (the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009) will come into effect and the 10 health professions (which include medicine) will be regulated by nationally consistent legislation. As a result the Medical Board of Australia will now also be responsible for providing advice to the Ministers on the recognition of medical specialties for the purposes of registration. The Commonwealth Minister for Health and Ageing will continue to have responsibilities for decisions in relation to recognition for Medicare purposes.
2) Does the AMC currently recognise cosmetic surgery as a medical specialty?
Cosmetic Surgery is not listed on either the AMC managed List of Australian Recognised Medical Specialties (http://www.amc.org.au/images/Recognition/AMC-list-of-specialties.pdf) or the Medical Board of Australia’s List of Specialties, fields of specialty practice, and related specialist titles (http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/en/Registration-Standards.aspx), therefore Cosmetic Surgery is not recognised as a medical specialty.
3) Does the AMC currently accredit any training programs provided by The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery?
The AMC does not currently accredit any training programs of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery. The AMC accredits training programs in recognised medical specialties.
The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS) has applied for recognition of cosmetic medical practice as a medical specialty. The AMC has begun its detailed assessment of the case for recognition of cosmetic medical practice as a medical specialty. As the assessment is ongoing the AMC makes no comment on the advice it may provide regarding the assessment of the case for recognition of cosmetic medical practice as a medical specialty. The AMC anticipates that it will complete Stage 1 of the assessment and provide advice to the Minister by early 2011.
The recognition process is described in detail in The Recognition of Medical Specialties: Policy and Process available at: http://www.amc.org.au/images/Recognition/recognition-guidelines.pdf
Stacey Yeats
Research & Policy Officer
Australian Medical Council
Level 3, 11 Lancaster Place
Majura Park, ACT 2609
I hope this addresses your questions. Should you have any further queries regarding the AMC recognition processes please email: recognition@amc.org.au. Disclaimer - the writer of the above, Deidre Nolan, has no opinion about the medical worth of training that is provided by the ACCS.
Death and Disfigurement in Australian Cosmetic Surgery
Two perfectly healthy normal looking women with everything to live for undertake cosmetic surgey to improve themselves. One dies. One is left seriously disfigured for life. Click on The Beauty Trap by 60 Minutes for their sad stories, and note the advice of Professor Merrilyn Walton who’s research has revealed that the Australian cosmetic surgery industry is one of the least regulated in the world!
Beautiful 26 year old Lauren James, dead, 3 days after liposuction with Dr Tam Dieu, at the Centre of Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery in Caulfield, Victoria.
Mother of 5 Kerry Mullins, is seriously disfigured for life, and lucky to be alive, after her “mum’s makeover” with Dr Morris Ritz, at the Melbourne Institute of Plastic Surgery. Her children don’t want her to take the risks of reconstructive surgery.
Click below for more
Reality of Beauty Myth by Suellen Hinde
Lauren Katherine James died after liposuction operation on buttocks and thighs by Mark Dunn
Dr Michael Zacharia – Authorities Take Action!
For the protection of patients the Queensland and NSW medical boards have imposed a range of conditions and restrictions on the registration of Dr Michael Zacharia, celebrity surgeon. These relate to the possession and administration of ‘anti-aging’ medications.
Dr Zac as he likes to be known, is familiar to viewers of the ‘Kerri Anne Show’. Dr Zac is a qualified ENT specialist and a self styled cosmetic surgeon, not to mention a very active businessman, who regards himself as a leader in anti-aging medicine. Amongst other things, he is associated with the Esteem cosmetic clinics in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, the About Face studio in Sydney and the Bondi Junction Private Hospital. Dr Zac is also immediate past president of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and is its current secretary. To check any up to date details of Dr Zacharia’s conditional registration, contact the Queensland and NSW medical boards or click to enlarge images below for the information currently available at the NSW and Queensland medical boards.
Call to Stop the GP Infiltration of Cosmetic Surgery- Dr Gordon Moyes MLC
Court Action: Further Notes on Deidre Nolan vs Dr Anoop Rastogi
Dr Rastogi as he appeared on the cover on The Sydney Weekender
I am being sued for defamation with malice (which I deny) by high profile GP cosmetic surgeon, Dr Anoop Rastogi, who is well known to viewers of Mornings with Kerri-Anne.
Dr Rastogi is a member of the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS).
Like Dr Rastogi most members of the ACCS are GP’s.
Some may be dermatologists, ENT’s or other. A few are plastic surgeons.
The ACCS, in and of itself, is not accredited with the Australian Medical Council (AMC) although its indivdual constituents will be, whether as GP’s, dermatologists and so on.
The AMC is the only body nationally which is authorised to accredit medical training on behalf of the Federal Government.
Medical training and accreditation provided by the ACCS is not accredited by the AMC; it is not recognised specialist training.
Dr Rastogi sues me, amongst other things, for comments I have published in relation to certain documents in the public domain, including comments I have made in relation to the remarks of the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes MLC, speaking on ‘Dr Rastogi and Cosmetic Surgery Regulation’ in the NSW Parliament.
In a move which I support, Dr Moyes has also recently called for the exclusion of GP’s, from the practice of cosmetic surgery, and stated his view that Plastic Surgeons are the medics best placed to undertake cosmetic surgery.
Controversially to many, GP’s and other non-Plastic Surgeons are legally entitled to describe themselves as cosmetic surgeons and perform invasive cosmetic procedures such as breast implantation and liposuction which the CHOICE consumer group has recently identified as one of the most dangerous forms of cosmetic surgery.
The ACCS disputes the idea that Plastic Surgeons are best placed to perform cosmetic surgery, and claims that its training programs and codes of practice are high quality, denying any inferiority as practitioners of cosmetic surgery, where its members are concerned.
The ACCS currently seeks endorsements with the AMC and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
I am subject to an interim injunction whilst the Court processes Dr Rastogi’s complaints about my publications.
I am defending my publications.
None of the above should be taken to express any opinion whatsoever regarding Dr Rastogi’s individual competence as a practitioner of cosmetic surgery.
‘Deidre Nolan v Dr Anoop Rastogi’ in the Media.
The Sydney Morning Herald has picked up on Dr Anoop Rastogi’s Supreme Court proceedings against me. Now we’re both famous!
Ongoing Activism Despite Injunction!
Dr Anoop Rastogi’s legal actions against me are an ongoing strain, and I’ve been as sick as! But a bit of an injunction and an illness doesn’t keep a good woman down!
I’m still blogging as you can see and I now have the deidrenolan YouTube channel.
Click now to get informed about issues in cosmetic surgery.
And another thing don’t forget to tell me your stories! I answer all emails and I’m happy to hear about your complaints and make representations on your behalf to parliaments or other entities in respect of concerns either about particular surgeons or issues in cosmetic surgery generally speaking. That’s what I do, so don’t be shy to ask!
Regards Deidre
Cosmetic Underbelly! Appalling Practices Exposed in Secret CHOICE Survey!
The utterly irregulated state of the industry would certainly seem to favour the liklihood.
Read the disturbing findings of a recent undercover investigation of ‘cosmetic surgeons’ practising in Brisbane and Sydney, which has been conducted by the highly respected CHOICE consumer group, in conjunction with the assistance of Plastic Surgeons from the highly respected Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons.
The Ups and Downs of Dr Martyn Mendelsohn- Another Colourful Identity in the Annals of Cosmetic Surgery!
Dr Martyn Mendelsohn
High profile medic Dr Martyn Mendelsohn 50, has told the NSW Medical Tribunal that he has allowed a 22 year old patient to perform oral sex on him his Sydney rooms, during the course of an after hours appointment where he gave her a ‘nose job’ without the presence or assistance of other personnel.
Oddly enough, now its his turn to go down!
Dr Mendelsohn has been struck from the medical register for the next 2 years, not only for being too sexy for his scalpel, but also for failing to properly assess and monitor the health of the woman concerned.
Dr Mendelsohn has a not unimpressive medical resume, and originally came to public prominence for his TV appearances on Good Medicine and RPA.
Unfortunately this is not the first time the good doctor’s been in a spot of bother over allegations about his penis finding its way into the mouth of a patient under his care.
However allegations of sexual assault which have been made to police, have been denied by Mendelsohn, and have not resulted in successful criminal prosecutions.
Click below to read more.
Celebrity Doctor on Rape Charge. By Natasha Wallace
Celeb Doctor Sex Assault Charge Dropped
Celebrity Doctor Tells of Oral Sex in Surgery. By Harriet Alexander
A Blowjob for a Nose Job
Doctor Had Oral Sex With Nose-Job Patient. By Lauren Wilson
Deidre Nolan
Phone: 02 9692 9541
deidre.nolan@yahoo.com.au
Advocating for justice, safety and tranparency in the ill regulated field of cosmetic surgery.
78 Darling Street, Glebe, NSW, 2037
Australian Cosmetic Surgery Consumer Alert 
