Women returning to have their ruptured breast implants removed and replaced are reportedly being turned away from the clinics that originally treated them and are being told to go to NHS.

Approximately 3,000 women have consulted with NHS specialists this year, but only 67 have actually undergone the implant removal, according to Department of Health statistics. The total taxpayer cost for all the consultations, surgeries and scans so far is roughly £500,000, and may rapidly increase as private clinics refuse to treat their patients and ‘palm off breast implant clients on NHS.’

According to reports, some private clinics claim to not have the expertise or skills to treat patients with ruptured breast implants. This has caused the many in the public and within the cosmetic surgery industry to question the qualifications of these so-called-surgeons performing breast implants in the first place.

"Either these clinics' practitioners aren’t qualified plastic surgeons as is generally claimed on their websites, which is clearly alarming, or they don’t want to bear the costs of caring for their own patients. Frankly, neither option should be acceptable to the women affected,” said Nigel Mercer, former British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps), in a recent article with the Telegraph.

Fazel Fatah, the current head of Baaps, echoes the criticism, saying that these issues are part of “standard training” and that any properly trained and qualified surgeon would be able to perform the procedures.  

Sally Taber, the director of Independent Healthcare Advisory Services said the remarks by the Baaps  surgeons may have been a bit excessive, seemingly defending surgeons working at private clinics.

If that is the case then if these private clinics are turning away their own patients, does that mean they are putting their costs before the care and safety of their patients? What are your thoughts?