'Sadly some of the unscrupulous clinics encourage people to have multiple surgical procedures, even though they may not be indicated [as necessary],' McGeorge added. 'Some of the well-known clinics are encouraging patients to have surgical procedures that they may not otherwise have considered, and I think that's bad practice. They are giving patients problems in the hope of getting them to sign up for more surgery. The treatment is therefore for the clinic's benefit, not the patient's.' He called for the entire £360m-a-year market in aesthetic treatments to be policed by the Healthcare Commission, the NHS regulator for England, so that substandard premises could be shut down. A Department of Health spokesman said: 'People should have all the facts before going ahead with potentially life-changing cosmetic surgery. There is a balance to be struck as to how far the taxpayer should be expected to pay for the regulation and policing of such procedures.'