Your 8-step guide to setting up an Aesthetic Clinic in Australia

The demand for cosmetic businesses in Australia is climbing. Australians are some of the highest per-capita users of medical aesthetic treatments in the world. With the industry projected to grow at a 12% annual rate through 2030, it’s a good time to start your aesthetic clinic. However, doing so requires regulatory compliance, careful planning, and industry knowledge.

If you’re looking to open your own aesthetic clinic, we’re sharing the foundations and eight practical steps to help you do so.

Key takeaways

• Opening an aesthetic clinic is achievable, but requires the right support and careful planning
• Before opening, your clinic must be legally compliant across the clinical and operational side of the business
• For a well-run clinic, you need the right support in your staff, systems, and training

Starting a sustainable aesthetic practice takes time, dedication, and consideration. If you’re considering opening an aesthetic clinic, we’re sharing eight steps to help you build your clinic through to grand opening.

Step 1: Know your compliance requirements

Compliance rules and regulations are always evolving. For example, new practice and advertising guidelines were introduced to provide further protection for patients undergoing cosmetic procedures. It’s no wonder keeping up with regulatory change is cited as the number one concern for clinic owners and practitioners in Australia, especially since legislation differs per state.

[Image: State of Medical Aesthetics chart – add in Webflow]

Source: Fresh Clinics State of Medical Aesthetics report

This is why knowing what’s legally required to run your aesthetic clinic is so fundamental, and should be the first thing you investigate. It will shape your clinic business model, the treatments and services you offer, your supplier decisions, and how you can legally market your business.

It’s also why partnering with a provider like Fresh Clinics can make things much easier. All of your compliance, learning, growth and 24/7 medical oversight is in one place, and you will be joining Australia’s most active community of healthcare practitioners.

Key requirements at a glance

Since you’ll be running a business within the medical industry, there are legal requirements that will govern all facets of your clinic. The main industry bodies you need to be aware of are:

• Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) expectations
• Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) advertising restrictions
• Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) guidance
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) guidelines
• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) Privacy requirements

And their regulations will require compliance with:

• Practitioner scope of practice
• Prescribing pathways
• Patient consent and documentation
• Infection control requirements
• Insurance requirements
• Training requirements
• State-based premises requirements

That’s just to name a few. Here’s a clear breakdown of the main governing bodies and the regulations around running an aesthetic clinic. Note that these regulations change by state.

Overview of compliance requirements and sources for Australian aesthetic clinics

• Ahpra: conflicts of interest, patient assessments, informed consent, prescribing and administering (prescription-only) cosmetic injectables, patient management, complaints, advertising and marketing, and facilities. Source: Ahpra cosmetic procedure guidelines
• TGA and ACCC: advertising and marketing therapeutic goods and prescription-only treatments. Sources: TGA advertising health services guidelines and ACCC guidelines
• NMBA and Ahrpa: nurses performing non-surgical cosmetic procedures. Source: NMBA – Information for nurses who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures
• OAIC: patient privacy, patient records, information collection, and using or disclosing health information. Source: OAIC guide to health privacy
• State/territory-based rules: clinic premises, infection control, and local council requirements. Source: relevant state/territory health regulations and requirements
• Mixture of above: cosmetic injectables. Source: Summary of the Regulatory Framework of High Risk Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures using S4 (prescription only) cosmetic Injectables

Note: This does not constitute legal advice. Legal requirements are always subject to change, so be sure to check regulators’ current requirements via their website, and seek professional advice where needed.

Once you have a good understanding of what’s required to run your aesthetic clinic, you’re ready to consider the structure of your business.

Step 2: Choose your clinic structure and medical oversight model

Part of the setup process is identifying the right clinic structure and medical oversight model that best supports your business. Here are the main points to know.

Clinic structures

As is the case with standard business ownership in Australia, your cosmetic business can be set up as a:

• Partnership: ideal for a non-physician owner partnering with a doctor or cosmetic nurse
• Company: ideal for aesthetic clinic owners wanting a separate legal entity for their business
• Trust: ideal for more established aesthetic clinics

Each structure has its own requirements around personal liability, tax, and hiring restrictions, so it’s best to discuss your needs with qualified experts such as a commercial lawyer and accountant.

Once you’ve decided on its base structure, there are a few more boxes to tick before you can open your doors. As a business operating in the medical industry, you’ll need to cover these four pillars of your business: ownership, clinical responsibility, prescribing authority, and scope of practice. Each has restrictions around who is responsible, what they do and what they’re accountable for. Here’s a quick breakdown.

Aesthetic clinic ownership structure overview

• Business ownership: not restricted by health practitioner registration law, subject to standard business/corporate law. Accountable for ownership of business registration, finances, leasing agreements and equipment.
• Clinical responsibility: registered, trained and licensed medical professionals. Accountable for oversight of patient safety, patient consultations, patient records maintenance, appropriate aftercare and emergency management.
• Prescribing authority: medical practitioners and endorsed nurse practitioners. Accountable for the legal right to authorise and prescribe Schedule 4 (S4) medications.
• Scope of practice: dependent on their training, qualifications and registrations (including Ahpra registration). Covers the set of procedures an individual is legally allowed to perform.

Medical oversight

For aesthetic clinics offering medical services, medical oversight is non-negotiable. It protects your business from non-compliance, your patients from unsafe practices, and manages other potential risks. This is usually handled either by employing a doctor directly to oversee the clinical operations or working with a structured medical oversight network or platform.

You may already have an idea of the treatments you want to offer, and whether they fall into the medical category (such as injectables). Ultimately, the treatments you choose will direct your decisions like who you hire, the training they require, and the equipment you’ll need to rent or purchase.

Step 3: Build your treatment menu

When building your treatment menu, there are factors to map before cementing your services.

Which treatments are in demand?

With a rising demand for non-invasive aesthetic treatments in Australia, understanding which will work for your clinic will be foundational to your success. For example, there’s a growing preference for low-downtime procedures such as:

• Injectables
• Dermal therapies
• Energy-based therapies (such as laser treatments)

These types of treatments have significant market potential, and may serve you well in the coming years. Of course, there are other factors to consider, such as who can perform them and the qualifications required to do so.

Who can perform these treatments?

Who can perform your treatments will vary based on your clinic location, expertise, licenses and compliance requirements. This could mean a treatment you were considering may not be feasible yet, or it seals its place in your menu come opening day. To make this easier, here is an example breakdown of who can perform what treatments, and the scope of practice required.

Example of aesthetic treatments, staff, and scope of practice

Cosmetic injectables

• Prescription: only by an authorised prescriber (doctor or nurse practitioner (NP))
• Administration: by a suitably authorised registered health practitioner
• Only doctors and RNs and NPs can conduct patient assessments; however, RNs cannot prescribe
• Each prescription must be based on real-time consultation
• RNs require a minimum one year of general nursing experience
• Enrolled nurses (ENs) must work under RN supervision

Laser treatments (who can perform them varies by state/territory)

• QLD: a use licence is required to use laser equipment for services such as laser hair removal
• WA: requires formal qualification such as doctor, RN, EN or a certificate in beauty therapy
• TAS: IPL and Class 3B/4 laser devices must be licensed
• NSW/VIC/SA/NT/ACT: no specific licensing requirements

Note: Information is accurate at the time of publication.

Planning your treatment menu

There’s a level of complexity to choosing your treatments, especially when it comes to adhering to the Ahpra procedure guidelines and your local state/territory laws. Once you have a rough idea of your treatments, you’ll want to sift them through various levels of commitment, such as:

• Staff training
• Compliant documentation
• Patient consent requirements
• Patient aftercare requirements
• Escalation pathways

You can simplify your grand opening pathway by choosing a few key treatments to start. When you do expand your treatment menu, you will need a review of training, supplier requirements and risk management protocols to ensure everything remains compliant.

Now that you have a decent idea of your treatment menu, moving on to your wider business plan will clarify your goals, who you’re marketing to, confirm which services are viable, and the expected costs around your launch.

Step 4: Draft your business plan based on real clinic operations

Working through your business plan will prompt questions to answer, make room for new ideas, and form the basis to shape the final version of your aesthetic clinic. This method helps clarify priorities, and turns concepts into actions.

Use these questions as your business plan springboard:

• Where will you open your clinic?
• Will your location require a full or partial fit-out?
• What is your budget for your lease?
• How many treatment rooms will you have?
• How will you design your clinic to meet your state/territory (NSW/QLD/VIC/WA/TAS/SA/ACT/NT) legal requirements?
• What equipment, stock and suppliers will you need?
• What insurances will you require?
• What treatments will you offer?
• What will be your pricing?
• How many appointments will you be able to fill?

These will naturally become more specific as you work through your plan. Now, it’s time to take a look at the other side: patient behaviour.

Understanding patient behaviour

Getting an idea of the choices your patients make before, during, and after their visit will help in a few key areas: marketing, support, and patient experience. This can flex and change depending on your location and treatments, but consider this as a base you can expand on:

• Brand exposure: This is when your patient is exposed to your brand, whether that’s online, in person, on social media, etc.
• Initial research: The first active step your patient takes towards learning more about their preferred treatment. They’re in the discovery phase and unlikely to book yet.
• Transactional research: Now they understand the treatment, they’ll be looking more into your clinic’s brand, reputation, your treatment menu, and your staff and their credentials.
• Booking an appointment: When the patient books an appointment, whether that’s through an online booking system or by calling the clinic.
• Their consultation: This will include things like their medical history, clinical imaging, and discussion of concerns and expectations; the patient is required to give informed consent.
• Cooling-off period (if applicable): For some treatments (like injectables), the Ahpra enforces a mandatory seven-day cooling-off period for patients under 18.
• The procedure: The patient undergoes the procedure conducted by the proper, qualified staff.
• Follow-up: They’re provided with any aftercare instructions and book a follow-up appointment.
• Aftercare: The patient should receive a check-in from the clinic to see how they are doing after their procedure. (We make this step easy; aftercare documentation is part of our practice management platform).

By mapping out the experience, you have a better idea of what your clinic requires to provide the best possible support. Then you can see what that all looks like through a financial lens.

Scope your aesthetic clinic startup costs and equipment

In Australia, 64% of clinics aren't confident making investment decisions, and 63% aren’t confident understanding financial performance. This is why understanding your business plan is important for making informed cost decisions down the line.

The cost of starting an aesthetic clinic varies greatly depending on your treatments, equipment required, the staff you need, and how much you’re able to invest upfront. Industry estimates suggest anywhere from $200,000+, but it’s difficult to provide a clear estimate for your specific clinic.

These categories will help you break down and allocate your budget:

• Legal fees
• Permits and licensing
• Clinic insurances
• Lease deposit and fit-out
• Products and stock
• Treatment equipment and devices
• Staffing
• Overheads
• Marketing and website

Your equipment plays a role in your upfront cost as well. Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll need for some of the most common aesthetic clinic treatments.

Equipment checklist per treatment for cosmetic businesses

• Facials: steamer, magnifying lamp, extraction tools, skincare products
• Laser hair removal: laser device, protective eyewear for both patient and practitioner
• IPL: IPL device with interchangeable filters, protective eyewear
• Cosmetic injections: needles/syringes, injection product, sharps disposal container, ice/topical anaesthetic

At Fresh Clinics, our inventory management portal keeps your costs down by making sure you only order what you need. You’ll also access practice management software to support your business, staff and training requirements, which is the next step in building your aesthetic clinic.

Step 5: Hiring, training and practitioner support

Your staff will be the pillars that uphold patient experience, safe treatments and procedures, compliance management, and clinic culture. Being considered in your choices will help your clinic become a great place to work and experience.

With rules around hiring requirements, 67% of clinics in Australia aren’t confident in building and managing a team. Yes, there are a few boxes to tick, but once you know what you’re looking for, the rest will fall into place. That’s why we’ve put together a quick hiring checklist to help.

[Image: State of Medical Aesthetics chart – add in Webflow]

Source: Fresh Clinics State of Medical Aesthetics report

Your aesthetic clinic staff hiring and training checklist

Every cosmetic clinic will have different hiring requirements, based on the state/territory and the treatments they’ll offer. Here’s a quick checklist to use as the base of what you should look for.

Hiring checklist

As you’re operating within the medical industry, depending on the role, you’ll need to check a candidate’s:

• Qualifications and active licenses
• Relevant and recent experience
• Scope of practice (i.e. are they acting within their permitted procedures, and are they competent in those procedures?)
• Supervision (i.e. do they require supervision or are they qualified to legally supervise other staff?)
• Ongoing education (i.e. are they able to stay on top of their own compliance requirements and important updates in their profession?)

Training checklist

They’re qualified to do the job. Now, determine whether they understand the scope of the role. It’s the responsibility of the person performing the procedure to ensure they are properly educated to do so safely. At minimum, this includes:

• Training on the assessment for procedure suitability
• Theoretical and hands-on training for the procedure

It’s a good idea to do your own due diligence by making sure they have training in:

• Consultation standards
• Patient communication
• Patient consent
• Medical documentation
• Photography protocols
• Aftercare
• Escalation protocols

The compliance and safety of your aesthetic clinic depend on the proper training and support of your staff. A good way to help manage this is with the right training systems and clinic software. A good clinic management system becomes the foundation of your business, so it’s the natural next step.

Step 6: Get the right systems in place

A good system keeps things running. A great system reduces admin pressure, handles online bookings, and helps maintain compliant documentation. It’s also secure: handling information such as consent forms and patient records requires a high level of digital security to protect patient privacy.

For your aesthetic clinic, you’ll want to make sure your platform can store, create, and manage:

• Patient intake
• Medical history
• Consent forms
• Treatment notes
• Photographs
• Stock levels and control
• Reporting
• Follow-up workflows

Fresh Clinics supports aesthetics clinics with a practice management platform. It provides compliance resources, training support, and a connected community for aesthetic clinic professionals.

You’re almost there. You’ve got your people and systems; now it’s about getting the word out to bring patients in. The best way to do this is with a compliant marketing strategy.

Step 7: Plan your marketing strategy

You’re so close to launching your business. What’s left is to get your marketing strategy together to drive business through your doors. Digital marketing is cost-effective and works as your 24/7 salesperson. Set up your digital channels properly, keep them alive, and they will grow your brand online.

Some of the most common digital marketing channels include:

• Your website: Every business needs a website. Make sure yours is optimised properly for search engines and user experience.
• Local SEO: Help patients find you on Google Maps and quickly find your address or opening hours on Google Business Profile. Make sure both are optimised for local searches.
• Email: In terms of ROI, email can drive up to $36 for every $1 spent. While this isn’t a guarantee, email marketing is a great way to reach the right patients at the right time.
• Social media: You need to meet your patients where they are online. With millennials driving more than half of all cosmetic consultations in Australia, having your brand on social media is essential.

Now, before you hit ‘post’, ‘send’, or ‘publish’, you’ll need to check compliance around your advertising. The main considerations here are that medical advertising should avoid:

• Misleading claims
• Unrealistic expectations
• Inappropriate use of testimonials or guarantees
• Direct or indirect promotion of prescription-only medicines

A breach of these advertising regulations can be costly, with the maximum penalty reaching $60,000 for individuals and $120,000 for a body corporate.

So, what does compliant marketing look like? It’s educational, transparent, backed by practitioner credentials, and focused on the patient experience.

Step 8: BONUS: Aesthetic clinic business launch checklist

You’re almost ready for your aesthetic clinic’s grand opening. Before you open those doors, work through this checklist to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

Business setup

• Set up legal structure
• Set up business premises
• Implement necessary protocols
• Ensure all staff hold correct licenses and permits
• Complete all operational compliance requirements
• Set up insurance

Clinical setup

• Doctor agreement
• Ensure the doctor is across all clinical compliance
• Emergency escalation plans are in place
• Equipment is calibrated and working properly

Team setup

• All staff positions filled
• All staff training requirements are met
• Training and documentation requirements are met
• Staff onboarding workflow complete

Systems setup

• Set up documentation flows
• Software requirements are complete and set up
• Consent forms are correct and ready to use

Marketing setup

• Complete a marketing action plan
• Set up channels: social media, email, etc.
• Set up website
• Complete a marketing compliance review

Finally, before you officially launch your aesthetic clinic, it’s a good idea to run what’s called a ‘soft launch’. This is a test launch that quickly identifies any issues with the system setup, booking systems, website buttons, email platform, or any other critical feature. This soft launch gives you time to fix any errors so the actual launch goes to plan.

This is one of those key moments where taking your time will pay dividends so you can open your aesthetic clinic safely and with confidence.

Supporting your aesthetic clinic

Setting up an aesthetic clinic in Australia requires a considered approach to safeguard your success. Laying strong foundations around governance, systems, training, documentation and patient safety will provide you with a sustainable clinic structure.

Join Fresh Clinics today to access the support you need to run an aesthetic clinic in Australia.

FAQ

What are the Ahpra and TGA regulations regarding advertising anti-wrinkle injections and fillers for a new aesthetic clinic?

You cannot advertise your anti-wrinkle injections and fillers for your aesthetic treatment clinic. The TGA prohibits advertising therapeutic goods containing prescription-only substances, which applies to ‘statement, pictorial representation or design’ that promotes the use or supply of the goods. As anti-wrinkle cosmetic injections and fillers are prescription-only substances, these treatments cannot be promoted to the public.

Beyond the TGA’s prescription-medicine restrictions, Ahpra’s advertising guidelines separately outline and enforce the prohibition of testimonials and targeted advertising of cosmetic procedures to under-18s, who also require a mandatory seven-day cooling-off period.

Can a registered nurse open an aesthetic clinic in Australia?

Nurse-led aesthetic clinics are possible in Australia, provided they abide by the necessary legal requirements and Ahpra guidelines. These include:

• Having the right business model
• Proper management and use of S4 cosmetic injectables
• Adherence to local and state-based laws (for example, in Queensland, RNs cannot possess a stock of S4 medicines for use in their clinics)

The structure required should be compliant with your local laws and current regulations. To ensure you understand which structures are possible, you should seek professional advice.

Do I need a doctor to start a cosmetic injectables clinic?

Whether you need a doctor to start a cosmetic injectables clinic depends on how your aesthetic clinic is set up and the support you need to meet all compliance requirements. A doctor will need to be involved where prescribing, clinical governance or other support is required.

This information was accurate at the time of publication and does not constitute legal advice. Always seek advice from qualified experts such as a commercial lawyer and/or accountant.

‍