Act now: A clear guide to legislation around marketing your health & wellness business

​Where to start (raises hands and looks confused)

Ok, first off – I’m not a lawyer. I’m going to talk you through legislation you need to be aware of, and delve into some of the gnarly details, but I’m not a lawyer.  This is not legal advice. This is a PSA (public service announcement) for things you might have forgotten along the way.

​I'm doing this because as a health & wellness copy writer I know that there are some things I can and can't say (on behalf of your business). 

And one thing that's come up recently is the use of client testimonial on websites. We know that getting testimonials can be a really powerful way to help new clients make the decision to book with us.

But.

Can we or can't we use them? Who can use them?  What can they say?  What can't they say? Does anyone care? YES! Is the answer.  People do care. And, more importantly, the government cares.

So I decided to share the info that I'd found along the way ... about testimonials and more.
 
This is too big for one post, so I’m going to spread it over a few.  I’m going to give you a reminder about what legislation affects you and what this means to your health & wellness business. 

​First up: What legislation is out there that may impact on what you’re doing.

There are four regulations that affect pretty much everyone in private practice in the health & wellness space. And these are:
 
The Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights) Regulations 1996
The Fair Trading Act 1986
The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993
Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code 

And then if you’re a

• Medical practitioner
• Chiropractor
• Dentist
• Dietitian (oh, that's me in my former life!)
• Medical technician
• Nurse / midwife
• Occupational therapist
• Optometrist
• Pharmacist
• Physiotherapist
• Podiatrist
• Psychologist

You’re also bound by The Health Care Practitioner Competencies Act 2003

Other legislation and regulations that we all need to be aware of are

• The Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
• Privacy Act 1993 and Health Information Privacy Code 1994
• Human Rights Act 1993
• New Zealand Bill of Rights 1993

​Let’s take a brief look at the four main regulations and what’s in them:

​The Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights) Regulations 1996

• The rights of consumers and duties of providers
• A consumer is anyone who is a client of someone providing a health and disability service
• These rights are integral to how we should practice.

 
The Fair Trading Act 1986

• Promotes accurate consumer information before you buy products and services, and product safety, amongst other purposes
• Applies to anyone in trade, including professions and provision of products and services.

 
The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993

• Sets out the rights of consumers when there’s a problem with a product or service that’s been paid for

 
Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code

• Affects all New Zealand advertising for therapeutic and health products and services.

 

In the next blog I’ll take you through the nitty-gritty and tell you what you need to double check to make sure you’re ticking all the boxes.  I'll start with the Therapeutic and Health Advertising Code.

Don't miss out on the next blog about the Therapeutic & Health Advertising Code.

And find out where I get to with unraveling the testimonial quagmire ...

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