One of the many things that you will need to think about when setting up in private practice is how you will advertise. There are likely to be several options available to you. The private hospital or clinic that you are working for may advertise on your behalf, or you may want to arrange your own advertising. This can take many forms including on social media, by engaging a specialist firm to manage your marketing.
Whichever option you choose, it is your responsibility to ensure that any information about you and your services complies with the law, guidance and regulatory codes that govern advertising, including guidance issued by the General Medical Council (GMC).
Acting with honesty and integrity
The GMC states that when communicating as a medical professional including when advertising your services - you must be honest and trustworthy, and ensure that any information that you provide is accurate, and not false or misleading. The information provided must be verifiable, and you must not exploit a lack of medical knowledge or vulnerability of any individual.
Advertising must be realistic, ethical, and for the sole purpose of conveying factual information and you must not put pressure on anyone to utilise your services. You must not provide your services as a prize and you should avoid the use of financial inducements that may influence the patient’s decision such as discounts, time limited or two-for-one offers.
Conflicts of interest
When communicating publicly as a medical professional, any conflicts of interest must be declared.
A conflict of interest occurs when a medical professional’s interests (financial or otherwise) compete with their professional responsibilities. In order to justify patients’ and the public’s trust in the medical profession it is important to manage potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, if you advertise your services, or use your professional position to promote or endorse any other services or products, you must be open and honest about any interests you have that may influence (or could be seen to influence) the recommendations you make. An example of this could be by disclosing a personal affiliation, financial or commercial interest relating to a healthcare company, pharmaceutical company or instrument manufacturer. You should regularly review your interests and assess whether new conflicts arise when circumstances change. Full guidance on Identifying and managing conflicts of interest is available from the GMC.
Patient confidentiality and social media
When advertising you must ensure that you protect patient confidentiality and a patient’s right to privacy. This is especially important if you decide to use the services of a third party to assist you or if you use social media, and it means that you must not disclose identifiable information about a patient unless you have their explicit consent to do so. It is also important to be aware that, if you are using anonymised information about a patient, an individual piece of information on its own may not breach confidentiality but the sum of information shared could be enough for a patient or someone close to them to recognise and identify their case. The GMC provide additional guidance for doctors on social media use here.
Law and regulatory codes
When advertising, you will be required to be familiar with and comply with the relevant law, guidance and codes issued by the Committee of Advertising Practice, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Competition and Markets Authority.
The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media and they apply the advertising codes written by the Committee of Advertising Practice. A key principle of the ASA British Codes of Advertising and Sales promotion is that all adverts should be legal, honest and truthful and be prepared with a sense of responsibility towards consumers and society. No unjustifiable claims can be made including guarantees of cure; patients must not be misled nor their lack of medical knowledge exploited; and patients must not be pressured to use a service. There are additional specific codes of practice relating to the use of social media for advertising, and to health and beauty products and therapies.
The Competition and Markets Authority helps people, businesses and the UK economy by promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair behaviour. They do this in a number of ways including by taking action against businesses and individuals that take part in cartels or anti-competitive behaviour, and by protecting people from unfair trading practices.
Doctors offering cosmetic interventions
The General Medical Council also provide additional Guidance for doctors who offer cosmetic interventions. Cosmetic interventions include any intervention, procedure or treatment carried out with the primary objective of changing an aspect of a patient’s physical appearance. It includes surgical and non-surgical procedures that are invasive and non-invasive.
You must take a responsible approach to your marketing and must not minimise the risks of interventions or claim that an intervention is risk free. Further, you must be open and honest about the results you are likely to achieve, and must not falsely state or imply certain results are guaranteed.
If a medical assessment will be necessary before the intervention is carried out, your advertising should make this clear.
You must not offer your services as a prize or use promotional tactics in such a way to lead an individual to make an ill-considered decision (for example, a time limited discount or two-for-one offer).
The GMC guidance is clear that responsibility lies with you, and you must not knowingly allow others to misrepresent you or offer your services in such a way as to conflict with their guidance.
Additional Resources
Home - ASA | CAP
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons
Good medical practice 2024 - GMC
Professional Standards for Cosmetic Surgery — Royal College of Surgeons