Queensland's Cosmetic Surgery Facility Rules 2026: Which Procedures Need a Licensed Facility

Key Takeaways

• The Private Health Facilities Amendment Regulation 2026 (Qld) (SL 2026 No 137) commenced on 1 October 2026, apart from section 4, which commences on 1 January 2027. It amends the Private Health Facilities Regulation 2016 (Qld) in two ways: a longer list of cosmetic surgical procedures that must be performed in a licensed facility and prescribed accreditation standards for the facilities that perform cosmetic surgery. Both changes are in force by 1 January 2027 at the latest.
• Section 3 of the Regulation, as consolidated, lists abdominoplasty, belt lipectomy, brachioplasty, breast augmentation or reduction, facelift (other than a mini-lift that does not involve the superficial musculoaponeurotic system), fat transfer of more than 500 millilitres of lipoaspirate, labiaplasty, liposuction that involves removing more than 2.5 litres of lipoaspirate, mastopexy or mastopexy augmentation, monsplasty, rhinoplasty and vaginoplasty as day hospital health services.
• New section 5A prescribes the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards for every licensed facility and the National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards (2023) for a health service that is cosmetic surgery, as the Regulation defines that term.
• Operating a private health facility without a licence is an offence under section 39 of the Private Health Facilities Act 1999 (Qld), with a maximum of 1,000 penalty units, which for conduct on or after 1 July 2026 is $172,700. The offence sits with the operator of the rooms; a practitioner who performs the procedure in someone else's unlicensed rooms has a position of their own to consider under the Criminal Code and the Medical Board's guidelines.
• A revision of overseas surgery is a listed procedure if it is one of the listed procedure types, wherever the original surgery was done, so the rooms that host it need a licence. A clinic approached by an overseas operator should check the procedure list, its licence, the referral arrangement and its advertising before agreeing to anything.

1. 1.What does the Amendment Regulation actually do?
2. 2.Which procedures must be done in a licensed facility, and from when?
3. 3.Who commits the offence, and what is the penalty?
4. 4.How does the Regulation sit with the Medical Board and the advertising rules?
5. 5.Can our rooms host revision surgery or partner work for an overseas operator?
6. 6.What your own procedure list and licence decide
7. 7.What happens next
8. 8.Frequently Asked Questions

Queensland has changed where cosmetic surgery may be performed: the Private Health Facilities Amendment Regulation 2026 (Qld), SL 2026 No 137 (Amendment Regulation), adds eight cosmetic surgical procedures to those that may only be performed in a licensed private health facility and prescribes national cosmetic surgery standards for the facilities that perform them. Astris Law in Brisbane sets out below what changed, who carries the offence and what to check before hosting work for an overseas operator.

What does the Amendment Regulation actually do?

It makes two changes to the Private Health Facilities Regulation 2016 (Qld) (Regulation), made under the Private Health Facilities Act 1999 (Qld) (Act). It amends section 3, which since 1 January 2018 had prescribed four procedures as day hospital health services, so that the list runs to twelve. It also inserts a new section 5A, prescribing the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards for all licensed facilities and, for cosmetic surgery, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care's National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards (2023) (Cosmetic Surgery Standards). For that purpose, cosmetic surgery means:

a surgical procedure that is provided primarily for the purpose of maintaining, improving or restoring a person's appearance; but does not include a surgical procedure determined by a medical practitioner to be necessary for treating a person's medical condition or clinically appropriate for a person.

The Act licenses private health facilities, including day hospitals, and the Regulation fixes which surgical procedures count as day hospital health services, so the rooms in which a listed procedure is performed must be licensed, and operating them without a licence is the offence.

Which procedures must be done in a licensed facility, and from when?

Four of the twelve have been listed since 2018, eight were added by the Amendment Regulation and the two volume thresholds are unchanged.

The list works by procedure type: a listed procedure needs a licensed facility whatever the reason for operating, and a clinic should not assume that the medical condition carve-out in the section 5A definition, which governs the standards, lifts a procedure out of the licensing rule. Nor is the list the only route in, because section 10 of the Act also treats a procedure performed by a medical practitioner under a general, spinal or epidural anaesthetic or under sedation other than simple sedation as a day hospital health service.

The Amendment Regulation commenced on 1 October 2026, other than section 4, which commences on 1 January 2027, so both changes are in force by that date at the latest. A clinic performing a newly listed procedure in unlicensed rooms has a licence question today either way, because the original four have needed a licensed facility since 2018 and the additions reach the same footing no later than 1 January 2027.

Who commits the offence, and what is the penalty?

Section 39 of the Act makes it an offence to operate a private health facility without a licence for it. The maximum is 1,000 penalty units, and a penalty unit has been $172.70 since 1 July 2026 under the Penalties and Sentences (Penalty Unit Value) Amendment Regulation 2026 (Qld), so the maximum for conduct on or after 1 July 2026 is $172,700.

The offence falls on whoever operates the unlicensed facility, not, in terms, on a visiting practitioner. A surgeon who performs a listed procedure in their own rooms is the operator, and one who performs it in someone else's unlicensed rooms should not assume the licence question is the operator's alone, because section 7 of the Criminal Code (Qld) extends an offence to a person who aids or enables it and the Medical Board of Australia's (Board) guidelines deal separately with where cosmetic surgery is performed.

How does the Regulation sit with the Medical Board and the advertising rules?

It adds a third layer, binding the operator where the Board binds the practitioner and the advertising rules bind whoever advertises. The Board's cosmetic surgery guidelines, in force since 1 July 2023, require a referral from a general practitioner or a specialist medical practitioner who works independently of the operating practitioner, two pre-operative consultations, a seven-day cooling-off period after consent and screening for body dysmorphic disorder. Its cosmetic surgery endorsement is voluntary, confers no title and is open only to holders of a qualification the Board has approved, which its endorsement page lists. Since 20 September 2023 section 115A of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Queensland) (National Law) has restricted the title "surgeon" to practitioners with specialist registration in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology or ophthalmology.

Advertising sits under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency's (Ahpra) general guidelines, the Board's cosmetic surgery advertising guidelines and, since 2 September 2025, the higher risk non-surgical guidelines; our guides to the Ahpra advertising guidelines and Ahpra's social media rules cover what they prohibit. A licence does not cure an advertising problem, and if a notification arrives our guide to Ahpra investigations sets out the first steps.

Can our rooms host revision surgery or partner work for an overseas operator?

Only in licensed rooms, if the procedure is a listed one. The Regulation prescribes procedures by type, so where the original surgery happened is irrelevant: a further abdominoplasty or a breast revision involving augmentation or mastopexy is a day hospital health service. A revision done to treat a complication may sit outside the section 5A definition of cosmetic surgery, but that is a separate question from whether it is a listed procedure, and before any arrangement is agreed the clinic should be able to answer the following.

• Is anything proposed a listed procedure, or to be done under more than simple sedation?
• What does the clinic's own licence, if any, authorise and on what conditions?
• Who will treat, and who will be operating the facility under the Act?
• Does it involve a benefit for referrals or an undisclosed pecuniary interest, which section 5 of the National Law treats as unprofessional conduct, and is the referral independent as the Board requires?
• Does the clinic's name on the operator's website make it the advertiser under section 133?
• Who carries the after-care, the records and the indemnity cover when a patient comes back with a problem?

What your own procedure list and licence decide

What the Regulation means for a particular clinic comes down to the procedures it performs and the sedation used, whether and for what its premises are licensed and the referral and after-care arrangements behind each patient. The licensing path runs through Queensland Health's Private Health Regulation Unit: a new facility needs approval as an authority holder before a licence and an existing licensee applies to amend, while a licensed facility performing cosmetic surgery must also comply with the Cosmetic Surgery Standards as a condition of its licence. A general article can take you to that line; which side of it your rooms fall on, and what the path involves for your premises, is a review of your documents, not a reading of this page.

What happens next

1. Now, map every procedure you perform against section 3 and the Act's anaesthesia and sedation definitions, room by room.
2. This week, read the licence, if any, for what it authorises; if there is none, stop scheduling listed procedures in those rooms until the position is settled.
3. Before the next listed procedure is booked, decide between a licensed facility and the licensing path, and raise the Cosmetic Surgery Standards with your accrediting agency.
4. Before anything with an outside operator is signed, answer the six questions above in writing, then review the website and referral arrangements against the advertising guidelines.

A listed procedure already on the books, an approach from overseas or a licence that does not clearly cover a procedure is the point to call Jamie Nuich on (07) 3519 5616, before the next booking is taken or anything is signed. How the firm handles this kind of work is described on the regulatory investigations page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Amendment Regulation affect a clinic that only performs injectables and other non-surgical procedures?

Not through the procedure list or the section 5A standards, which attach to surgical procedures, though the anaesthesia and sedation route should still be checked. Non-surgical practice sits under the higher risk non-surgical guidelines in force since 2 September 2025.

We already hold a day hospital licence. Does it cover the newly listed procedures?

Do not assume so. A licence carries conditions, and contravening one is its own offence under section 49 of the Act, with a maximum of 200 penalty units. Where the licence does not clearly extend to a procedure, raise it with Queensland Health first.

Is "cosmetic surgeon" a protected title in Queensland?

For a medical practitioner, in effect yes. Since 20 September 2023 section 115A has barred a medical practitioner outside the surgical classes from using the title "surgeon", including in a phrase such as "cosmetic surgeon", and barred anyone else from using it for them. The Board's voluntary endorsement does not change that.

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