Due to recent interpretations of the Queensland Health factsheet titled "Medicines in Beauty Treatment/Cosmetic Businesses", cosmetic nurse-led clinics across the state are facing sudden, severe restrictions that threaten their survival.

Thousands of Queensland women rely on experienced cosmetic nurses for safe, natural, and discreet care. Now, these nurses — who have built and led this industry with excellence — are being regulated out of practice.

If you value choice, safety, and care from a trusted professional who knows your face and your story, please sign this petition.

We call on Queensland Health and the Queensland Government to:
• Urgently review the restrictive enforcement now threatening over 90% of nurse-led clinics.
• Reinstate safe, compliant telehealth prescribing and shared oversight models.
• Establish a working group with nurse-led clinic representation for fair, practical policy reform.
• Publicly release data on cosmetic injectable complications by practitioner type.
• Provide financial relief and transition support to affected clinics.

Nurses built this industry. We lead it — and we do it safely.

Now we’re being told we can no longer:
• Store or access the same Schedule 4 (S4) medicines we’ve safely administered for years
• Work with telehealth prescribers, a model that was compliant and effective
• Continue to care for our clients unless we surrender to one of two unworkable models — neither of which suits the independent, nurse-led clinic model that Queensland women rely on

What We’re Being Forced Into
Model 1: Compounding Pharmacy Dispensing Only

• Every treatment must be pre-prescribed, pre-dispensed, and individually labelled
• No flexibility to tailor treatment on the day — even if less product is needed
• Mid-treatment adjustments — essential to safe, natural outcomes — would be blocked
• Wasteful, expensive, and impractical
• Especially devastating in regional and rural areas

Model 2: On-Site Doctor or NP Control

• A doctor or nurse practitioner must physically manage all medicines on-site
• Most independent clinics cannot afford this — it is financially unviable
• There are not enough aesthetic-trained NPs or doctors to fill this gap
• Many clinics will be taken over by men who are not injectors — replacing the trusted, discreet, feminine care environment women prefer
• Nurses lose autonomy, income, leadership, and client continuity

This isn’t about safety — the data proves tt
• National adverse event rate for cosmetic injectables: 0.0094%–0.0157%
• Queensland estimated rate: 0.0084%–0.0168%
• Most reported issues are minor, such as swelling or bruising
• Serious complications are rare and typically stem from inexperience, not the nursing profession
References:
• ABIC Safety Data (PDF)
• Peer-reviewed article: The Whole Truth About Botulinum Toxin – PMC

What this means for everyday women
• You may lose access to your trusted nurse — someone who knows your face, your history, your needs
• Prices will rise, and clinic closures will follow
• Choice and comfort will disappear
• For many women, this is not about vanity — it's about confidence and professionalism
• With retirement age rising, many clients seek natural treatments to remain confident and competitive in their careers

What’s being ignored
• Most cosmetic nurses are female small business owners
• We each invest $10,000–$15,000+ annually in training and ongoing education
• We train via unpaid webinars, in-clinic practice, mentoring, and interstate travel
• We employ mostly women in admin, beauty, and support roles — all now at risk
• Many nurses are educators, researchers, innovators, and quiet leaders in this space

This contradicts Government promises
• Support for women in business
• Expansion of regional health access
• Respect and elevation of nursing leadership
• Promotion of small enterprise and innovation
• Workplace equality for women later in life
Instead, nurse-led clinics are being erased overnight, with no warning, no consultation, and no transition plan.

This is more than a compliance issue.
It’s a women’s health issue.
It’s a public access issue.
It’s a workforce and equality issue.

👉 Please sign this petition and stand with the nurses who have stood by you. Let’s protect access, autonomy, and safe, trusted care for women across Queensland.

— Proudly supported by Queensland Aesthetic Nurses United (QANU) —

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Updated Sunday May 11th 2025

What’s happening and why it matters

On 15 April 2025, Queensland Health issued new guidance enforcing strict models for how cosmetic medicines can be accessed and administered. Nurse-led clinics are now limited to two options; both of which reduce flexibility, increase patient burden, and threaten the viability of small businesses. These changes put safe, accessible, and trusted cosmetic care at risk, with serious consequences for patients, nurses, and a predominantly women-led industry.

Impacts for Patients

Under the new rules, patients are now responsible for obtaining and transporting their prescribed cosmetic medicines, which includes keeping them properly stored and refrigerated. Any breach in this cold chain can reduce the safety and effectiveness of the product. Nurses will expect to receive medicines in the correct condition, and if this standard is not met, the product will have to be discarded with the patient bearing the full cost and responsibility.

Patients must now schedule consultations in advance with a doctor or nurse practitioner, obtain a prescription, and have the medicine dispensed to them personally. This removes flexibility; once a prescription is filled, treatment areas cannot be changed without a new prescription. Any unused product must be discarded.

These requirements create new costs, delays, and barriers to care, especially for people in regional areas or those seeking simple and discreet cosmetic treatments from a trusted nurse.

Impacts to Professionals

Cosmetic nurses, over 90% of whom are women, have safely provided cosmetic injectables across Queensland for years. These changes now prevent registered nurses from storing or accessing Schedule 4 medicines, even when prescribed appropriately, unless a prescriber is physically on-site or the product is dispensed per patient.

Nurses face loss of autonomy, income, and leadership opportunities. Clinics that relied on collaborative, compliant telehealth models may be forced to shut down, especially in areas where aesthetic-trained prescribers are unavailable. The risk of professional sanction increases for nurses who attempt to meet patient demand in a system no longer accommodating safe, efficient workflows.

Impacts to Industry

As of May 2025, there are approximately 560 nurse-led cosmetic clinics in Queensland, with 800 to 900 cosmetic nurses, the vast majority of whom are women. These small businesses contribute significantly to Queensland’s economy and healthcare access.

Policy changes now threaten the viability of this workforce. Regional clinics may close, and remaining practices may be absorbed into corporate structures, removing personalised care in favour of more costly, impersonal models. The sector risks losing decades of innovation, training, and client trust built by women in health leadership.

What Needs to Change

We call on Queensland Health and the Queensland Government to adopt a balanced, evidence-based approach that ensures public safety in accordance with the Medicines and Poisons Act 2019 (MPA) and the Medicines and Poisons (Medicines) Regulation 2021 (MPMR) — without dismantling nurse-led services.

Robust governance is essential, but it must be practical, enforceable, and fair. The current enforcement approach disproportionately affects a predominantly female, nurse-led industry, despite its strong track record of safety and compliance.

We urge the government to:

• Suspend current enforcement and allow transitional compliance pathways while working with stakeholders to develop consistent application of the MPA and MPMR that supports the cosmetic industry
• Recognise nurse-led cosmetic care as a safe, regulated, and collaborative model of health service delivery
• Implement a licensing or registration system for all cosmetic providers, tied to mandatory training and ethical standards
• Require real-time complication reporting and public release of outcome data by practitioner type, not clinic structure
• Mandate accredited training and continuing education for all clinicians who administer Schedule 4 (S4) medicines
• Introduce secure, auditable prescribing platforms to strengthen medicine oversight while maintaining treatment flexibility
• Ensure regulatory policy aligns with MPMR sections 54–57, which clearly permit nurse administration of S4 medicines under a valid prescription
• Include nurse and patient representation in all future regulatory reviews and working groups
• Support regional and rural access through scalable, team-based models that meet both safety and service delivery needs

How You Can Help

Add your voice to protect nurse-led care in Queensland:

• Sign the petition to support fair, inclusive regulation
  Share it with your networks — your story matters
  Contact your MP to ensure women’s health and workforce equity are heard

Let’s protect your choice and your aesthetic care provider. STRONGER TOGETHER