John Parker was barred by the Nursing and Midwifery Council two years ago
John Parker(Image: TRINITY MIRROR)
A nurse who was barred from medicine has continued to work in aesthetics after opening his own firm in south Liverpool three years ago. John Parker was struck off from practising as a nurse by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2023 after a disciplinary panel ruled he had supplied or sold unauthorised medication in Ireland, between July 21, 2016 and July 23, 2018.
The NMC’S fitness to practice committee also found it had been proven Parker had lied to a police officer at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. He claimed he was allowed to prescribe the drugs and told a previous disciplinary hearing boxes of medication he was found with at Dublin Airport were empty.
But Parker was stopped by police at John Lennon Airport, who suspected he was carrying drugs or medication, and then Irish customs officers after he reached Dublin on July 22, 2018.
A witness told his disciplinary hearing Botox was identified as being among the products he was carrying. The hearing heard he had admitted to an enforcement officer for Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Authority he had travelled to the county to ”do some Botox and fillers” for clients.
The enforcement officer also said in witness evidence Parker had confessed he had been travelling to Ireland to provide the service for a couple of years and had provided medical treatment to around 50 customers after being recommended by an Irish friend living in Liverpool.
His charge for Botox was “200 euros a pop” (equivalent to £172), according to an exchange of the conversation reprinted in the 32-page striking-off ruling. The disciplinary panel cleared Parker of other charges of practising nursing without a license in the Republic of Ireland.
But it ruled patients “were put at risk of harm as a result of the registrant’s actions in supplying medication he was not authorised to supply in the Republic of Ireland.”
Parker has since been operating in south Liverpool as an aesthetician, which is currently allowed under UK law, with his business John Parker Aesthetics. The business also operates under the name of Aesthetics of Woolton, and is based on Woolton Street.
Despite being barred by the NMC, Parker is able to operate as an aesthetician as well as own his own beauty practice.
In TikTok videos posted by @aestheticsofwoolton, Parker discusses recent facelifts that he has administered. Speaking in the video, Parker tells viewers he is awaiting to fly to the Isle of Man for two facelifts.
He claims to have received “remarkable” results in recent procedures before describing his work as “phenomenal”.
Some of Parker’s videos have been viewed more than 40,000 times on the social media platform, with him appearing to operate the business for the last three years.
Parker, who became a registered nurse in September 2002, was given a two-year caution order in June 2014 by the NMC for giving Botox without a prescription and using an unlicensed treatment to remove a vein. He received a three-year caution order in April 2016 for offering his disgruntled facelift patient a refund as an incentive to withdraw her complaint against him.
And he was handed a third caution, this time for five years, for claiming to have a Masters in Pharmacology at an NMC hearing a year earlier. Parker was allowed to continue working despite the caution orders from the NMC.
This comes after the Department of Health and Social Care announced new measures to crackdown cosmetic procedures that have left people maimed and injured by enforcing registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Only qualified healthcare professionals will be able to perform high risk procedures under the new rules, with clinics administering filler and Botox needing to meet strict standards to obtain a licence.
John Parker(Image: Trinity Mirror)
Lower risk cosmetic procedures, including Botox, lip fillers and facial dermal fillers, will come under stricter oversight through a new local authority licensing system.
Practitioners will be required to meet rigorous safety, training, and insurance standards before they can legally operate. Once regulations are introduced, practitioners who break the rules on the highest risk procedures will be subject to CQC enforcement and financial penalties.
The new rules are being implemented to protect people from what the government called “unqualified, rogue operators”. It is also in aid of reducing the cost to the NHS of fixing botched procedures.
These new regulations are subject to public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny before they are introduced.
The government also said it will work closely with stakeholders to develop further proposals for consultation on introducing the licensing regime for lower-risk procedures to seek views on education, training standards, qualifications, infection control and insurance.
When approached by the ECHO John Parker declined to comment.