I just want to make sure that I try and look as different
as I possibly can. I'm on high alert for this one.
It's difficult to know whether someone has clocked
that you're undercover or not.
People could well get spooked by the fact that I'm asking questions,
but if you don't ask them, you might not get the information you need.
I'm inside this woman's house, if something goes wrong,
if she does realise I'm a journalist,
it's just me that's left to deal with it.
I'm Ellie Flynn, I'm 24 and I'm an investigative journalist.
I've gone undercover to expose the struck-off doctor...
..who is providing botox for young people nationwide.
And fake medics...
..who are breaking the strict rules around prescription drugs...
..and making a tidy profit in the process.
I mean, there is something very, very dodgy going on here.
Plastic surgeons report a dramatic increase in people under 30
getting procedures like botulinum toxin injections,
commonly known as botox -
and campaigners warn of a national bill of as much as £1 million a year
for corrective surgery, as a result of these injections.
I'm investigating whether the strict regulations
around the use of this potent drug are being followed,
as sources tell me that, in many cases, they aren't -
which could be putting thousands of patients at risk.
If you want botox,
you should ideally go to a trained medical professional.
They will assess whether it's suitable for you,
tell you the risks, and can write you a prescription,
before giving you the treatment.
You can go to a beautician for the injection,
but it's illegal for a beautician to supply botox
that hasn't been prescribed for you,
so you also need to see a doctor, dentist,
prescribing nurse or prescribing pharmacist for your consultation
and prescription first. This must be done face-to-face.
If you're prescribed botox without a face-to-face medical consultation,
it's against strict General Medical Council guidance.
Despite this, I've heard it's happening
at thousands of appointments across the UK.
I'm told beauticians regularly offer botox
which hasn't been properly prescribed - but I need proof,
so I've booked some appointments, using the fake name Lucy.
I'm going to go undercover
because I think if I go in and say I'm a journalist,
they might follow procedure,
whereas if I go in as a member of the public with hidden cameras,
I'll see exactly what happens
when people do go to these appointments normally.
I want to check whether they're qualified medics.
I checked and she isn't a licensed nurse,
so I should first see a qualified medic
to get the required prescription.
Needles come out quickly, so I fake a sudden needle phobia.
Both those beauticians were about to give me botox
without a proper consultation with a prescriber -
and one of them told me that she's a registered nurse.
I looked her up on the register, and she's not on it.
Posing as a registered medical professional is a criminal offence -
and our evidence shows that's exactly what she was doing.
They told me there were no risks, no side effects,
and they made it seem like a very casual thing that everyone's doing.
To see if it really is what everyone's doing,
I'm on my way to a botox party in Windsor,
where a legitimate prescriber is present.
Hi! Dr Sherpao. Hi, Dr Sherpao.
So, how are you all feeling? Good. Great.
The champagne may be non-alcoholic,
but there's still a party atmosphere.
How old are you guys? I'm 23.
23. 27. 27.
21. 21. Yeah.
You're not having any botox, are you? I'm not, no.
Are you tempted?
Um, a little bit. See what all the fuss is about.
When was the first time you had it?
Was that four months ago? No, when I was like 18.
No way. Yeah. I've had it for, like, five years, now.
And do you think that people see it as convenient as they would
getting their nails or their eyelashes done? Yeah.
People want their nails done, their hair done,
their eyelashes done, their lips done, botox,
all part of that whole, you know, confidence boost.
So, in total, how many people do you think you know who have botox?
Over a hundred. Over a hundred?! Yeah, everybody has it.
I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't any more.
If botox has become such a basic beauty essential,
how bad can the risks of not doing it properly really be?
RADIO: Clyde One... News!
First this morning, Clyde News can reveal legal action has begun
against botox clinics who are avoiding industry regulation.
It comes six months after...
I've come to meet Marie, who this year was given botox
without first seeing a medical professional.
Hi. Marie? I'm Ellie. How are you? Good. How are you?
I'm good.
So, what exactly happened to you?
So, basically, I thought I was looking a bit old and haggard,
so I went and I started looking into getting myself some botox,
and there was a really good deal online, so I went,
and my face looked like I had a stroke.
Like, this eyelid was going up and this one was going down.
I couldn't pronounce Ps, Bs...
Anything that you had to put your lips together.
Every time I took a drink out of a cup,
it was just pouring out of the side of my mouth.
So, what did you have to do? I had to live like that.
When you went to get botox, did you know that there were any risks?
I think people are so secretive about getting botox... Yeah.
Like, you don't open a magazine and see botox gone wrong all the time.
Yeah. So, you can actually go blind from bad botox.
She didn't ask me for any allergies.
You could go into shock, just like a peanut allergy.
Everything could swell up and it could be life threatening.
So, if you'd met a doctor or a nurse prescriber beforehand
and they'd given you a face-to-face consultation
and spoken about all the risks,
do you think you'd have felt better about what happened?
I think not explaining it to you takes your choice away,
so somebody who doesn't know the risks at all,
that maybe never had botox before,
going in and doing it and feeling like that,
I think you do feel totally violated.
Knowing how real the risks are,
I start to wonder who on earth would provide these beauticians
with botox prescriptions without seeing the patient.
There's doctors, dentists, nurse prescribers
who are knowingly signing prescriptions
for people to have this drug,
but not having these face-to-face consultations,
which are so important.
We've got all of this evidence
of beauticians who seem to be using a remote prescriber,
but we haven't got any closer yet
to finding who that remote prescriber is.
Campaigners Save Face and Treatments You Can Trust
tell me lots of beauticians
might be unwittingly using rogue remote prescribers.
A number were in the North West,
so I'm going undercover again
to see if I can get some concrete evidence
about the medics behind these prescriptions...
..but it looks like some beauticians aren't following the rules either.
Needles come out very quickly and I have to make my excuses
because she hasn't taken any of my medical details
before the appointment,
meaning the botox she's said she'll inject me with
hasn't been prescribed for me. That's against the law.
Because she also told me she's a nurse,
I double check the register to make sure.
On my way to another appointment, I'm definitely feeling uneasy.
Again, I've had no consultation and no prescription for botox,
so I want to know where it's coming from.
I'm keen to get away from the area as quickly as possible.
PHONE VIBRATES
A few of the beauticians we went to see, some of them have got spooked,
and we were concerned that they might be in contact.
Cos I've had a text, saying,
"Hello, so you are going around to all practitioners,
"asking for botox and to see if they will do it without prescription.
"Well, I'm afraid you won't get any botox from any of us
"without a face-to-face consultation with one of our prescribers.
"It would be unethical to treat someone
"without them having a consultation with a prescriber
"to discuss their medical history."
I've also got a voicemail from this same number.
Let me just play that.
"Ring me back. Thank you."
A quick internet search confirms that this is the phone number
of a beauty academy.
OK, so, Skin Base Aesthetics.
It's a training academy in the heart of Manchester.
They do a botox course. Foundation botox for beauticians.
From what I can see,
all those women I went to visit trained at this Skin Base Academy.
I've gone through their website and old social media posts,
and in 2015, Skin Base has shown a kind of CV of a Dr Shreedhar Vaidya.
They're calling him Shree.
So, I've found a Shreedhar Vaidya - it looks like he was struck off.
He was struck off in 2008 - and if you've been struck off,
you have to be clear about your GMC status.
You know, it says here,
"Our doctor teachers have more than 30 years' experience."
You'd assume from this he's a registered medical doctor,
when he's not.
I wonder if these beauticians know that this doctor isn't registered.
They could be being fooled
as much as anyone who's going to get the treatment is.
I wonder if Shreedhar Vaidya is the source of the prescriptions -
because I got a text from a beautician
who said I had to speak to a doctor first.
She also trained at Skin Base Academy.
So, it looks like she was trained by this doctor, Shreedhar Vaidya,
who's not actually a doctor, and has been struck off.
This is ringing some alarm bells for me.
I text this beautician and make an appointment,
using the fake name Sophie King.
She tells me again that I need to speak to a doctor first...
..and confirms my phone number.
A couple of days before my appointment, I have a missed call.
I've looked up that phone number and it's Dr Shreedhar Vaidya,
the other struck-off doctor who teaches at Skin Base.
Why would he call me before my botox appointment?
MOBILE RINGS
Hi.
OK.
Perfect.
Thanks, bye.
That phone call was ridiculous.
The doctor did not ask me if I'm breast feeding,
if I'm pregnant, anything about my medical history,
he didn't tell me what the risks were -
and he didn't even see my face,
so he has no idea if this is a suitable treatment for me or not.
Why would he call me,
if there's going to be someone
who is still able to properly prescribe botox for me
at the appointment?
I head to Nottingham for the appointment
to prove that the man who called, posing as a medical doctor,
has actually arranged for my botox to be provided.
She's a beautician who is connected to the group
that I was meant to go and see in Manchester.
They might have put out a sort of warning to anyone
who went to that academy that there's someone sniffing round.
The other appointments I went to,
I left because I said I was too nervous
to go through with getting the botox.
Whereas today, I'm pretending I'm three months pregnant.
So I'm going to try and make myself look quite different
to when I went to those appointments.
I've got a long brown ponytail, which I'm going to put in.
I haven't actually tried it yet, so it might look crap,
I might have to think of some sort of alternative solution.
I'm just actually going to double check
what my correspondence has been with this beautician,
because a lot of these beauticians are connected,
I don't want to be contacting them all off the same phone.
So I've had to get loads of different phones and SIM cards,
so that I can contact all of these people from different numbers,
so my phones are multiplying in the night.
I think this is the one for the woman I'm seeing today.
So, I'm booked in for 1pm.
Good to go.
I'm trying to remember all of the fake personal details
that I've made up.
When you go, sometimes the beauticians might ask you questions
about where you live and what you're doing in the area.
I've forgotten that number. 07398 346453.
07398 34...
I'm just looking up a hospital,
to see where I might have gone for a pregnancy scan,
in case she asks me.
OK.
That's recording.
Quick.
So, she was definitely about to give me the botox.
There was no doctor there.
This guy, who's not even a registered doctor,
he's pretending to be, which is breaking a rule in itself,
is somehow providing a prescription-only medicine
over the phone, which you're also not allowed to do,
and he must be putting so many people at risk
with that half-arsed consultation.
I've discovered that this struck-off Dr Shree
is also the director of a clinic called A Plus Aesthetics in Essex.
I need to find out whether my experience was a one-off,
or if he's organising botox for patients up and down the country.
Keen to keep my cover, I send in another member of the team.
Hi. Yes, at 4:30.
Botox, yeah.
Hello?
Oh, hi.
It's the same doctor on the phone,
and the so-called consultation is as minimal as last time.
He doesn't ask a single relevant question.
Thanks.
Really? Yeah.
I feel like I'm starting to understand
just how much money could be made
by the people willing to flout the guidelines and endanger patients.
The only way of getting the truth is to speak to the man himself,
which is tricky, as he doesn't have a clinic I can visit...
..but I discovered that he rents out a room in his home to paying guests.
It's a risk, but I book myself in.
I'm going to say that I'm up in the area for the night
for a family party,
but I'm going to tell him that I am a beautician
and see if he mentions botox himself.
I just want to find out more about this operation.
I want to find out how much money he's making,
how he's getting the botox, how many beauticians he's doing it for -
and it can't be Dr Shree behind every single prescription,
so maybe he's got colleagues or connections
who are doing the same thing he is.
I don't really know. We don't even know if he's going to be in.
Might be someone else who lets us in.
This could be a complete waste of time!
Hi. Hello.
Thank you.
I've been waiting for two hours and there's no sign of him...
YAWNS Oh, my God!
..but then I hear a noise downstairs.
I go down to ask for a glass of water.
Hiya. Hi.
It seems like he's offering me training, like all the other
beauticians who may have been duped into thinking he's a real doctor.
So, Shree is admitting arranging repeat prescriptions for botox
that are then being used on patients
that neither he nor those writing the prescriptions
have even heard of -
and he says they don't want to know.
No way.
Shree's accounts for one month showed hundreds of pounds
next to each entry on a long list of beauticians.
So, this is how a struck-off doctor
is facilitating prescription drugs being sent to beauticians
against strict GMC rules.
He has a group of prescribers he works with.
Shree is explicit about avoiding the clear-cut GMC guidance
around face-to-face consultations.
We left, and made our way back to our hotel.
I actually can't believe that conversation.
When I went in to do this undercover work today,
I wasn't sure what to expect - and there was part of me
that was like, "OK, the most outrageous thing
"that you might get from this
"is he'll tell you exactly how much money he's making,
"how it works, and he'll be really blase about it,"
and I was like, that's probably not going to be the truth.
There must be, you know...
He's not going to be that up front about it -
and there he was, just, you know, outright telling me
how much money he made, he showed me his accounts, how he does it,
and what a great idea it is for anyone who wants to flout the rules,
and he openly spoke about the rules.
He mentioned the fact that you need a face-to-face consultation,
but was like, "No, I don't think you do."
So, I wrote to Dr Shree to tell him that we'd filmed him
making all of these admissions
and he has completely denied any wrongdoing.
He has repeatedly declined our invitation for an interview,
he's demanded to see our footage, and he's criticised our methods,
and he's insisting that he's completely entitled
to call himself Dr Shree.
While rare, botox does carry risks.
If it's not being properly prescribed to you,
you might be in pain for days.
You might end up suffering a severe allergic reaction.
You could have trouble eating and drinking -
or you might just not be psychologically fit
to have a treatment like this.
Unless the law clamps down on people like Shree and others,
then I think it's just going to continue,
because it's an easy moneymaking scheme
for dodgy medics and for people in the cosmetics industry
who don't really care about their patients' safety.