PIP implant firms 'should belong to insurance scheme'

By Iona Bain

The cosmetic surgery firms responsible for giving women faulty breast implants should now belong to a mandatory insurance scheme to pay for corrective surgery, says the medical director of the NHS.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, who is leading a government review into the PIP scandal, hopes an insurance bond will be imposed on cosmetic surgery firms in a similar manner to the compulsory scheme for travel agents.

He told Radio 4: "One of the things that the review will be looking at will be something that travel agents have, which means if an organisation runs into trouble, the consumer is covered."

It follows a refusal by three national cosmetic surgery firms to pay for the removal of the PIP implants, despite the government saying they have a "moral obligation" to their clients.

The NHS looks set to pick up the bill for removing the implants made by Poly Implant Protheses (PIP), a company which bypassed medical-grade material and opted for industrial-grade silicone filler found more commonly in mattresses.

It is thought that the NHS will only replace implants that were used to help 3,000 cancer patients in reconstructive surgery, leaving the 37,000 who paid for them in private breast enlargement operations without any official recourse for help, according to the BBC.

Your health insurance provider will not pay for any complications arising from plastic surgery if you've paid to have it done yourself. But you can try to get an operation through your health insurance if you require cosmetic surgery for a defect or physical trait which is causing you harm - for example, you can be treated for drooping eyelids if they are damaging your eyesight.