Vets can advertise with reviews about treatment, which a dentist or a doctor legally cannot

Can you put client reviews on your website and your Facebook page, or does the health advertising ban cover you too? I read the law to find out, because it’s easy to assume the health rules cover you.

The short answer is that the ban doesn’t reach a vet. The rules that do reach you are shorter, and I’ve quoted each one below so you can read it yourself.

This is the law as written, read on 2 October 2026. It isn’t legal advice about your business.

What does the testimonial ban say, and who does it bind?

It bans testimonials in advertising a health service, and “health” there means 16 named professions, none of them veterinary. Section 133(1)(c) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) says a person must not advertise a regulated health service in a way that “uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business”.1

A “regulated health service” is defined as “a service provided by … a health practitioner”, and a health practitioner is “an individual who practises a health profession”.1 The Law then lists those professions, and dental, medical and physiotherapy are among them.1

Veterinary science is not. I searched the whole NSW version of the Law for “veterin” on 2 October 2026, and it does not appear once.1

The vets’ own Act keeps the two apart as well. The Veterinary Practice Act 2003 defines “health practitioner” as “a registered health practitioner within the meaning of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW)“.2

What can’t a dentist or a doctor do that you can?

They can’t advertise with a review about treatment. Ahpra, the national agency that registers health practitioners, defines a testimonial as “recommendations or positive statements about the clinical aspects of a regulated health service used in advertising”.3

Ahpra counts three things as clinical: the symptom or reason for coming in, the diagnosis or treatment, and the outcome or the practitioner’s skill.3 A dentist may quote a patient on friendly staff or a short wait, but not on the tooth.

Here is a made-up example to show the line. “They worked out what was wrong with Bella’s leg and she’s running again” is a review about treatment and its outcome.

A dentist couldn’t put its equivalent on their website, or on a Facebook page used to promote the clinic, which Ahpra says “is considered advertising”.3 A vet isn’t bound by that section.

What rules still apply to a vet?

Three sets, and none of them is optional. The first is your own Code of Professional Conduct, clause 6: “A veterinary practitioner must not mislead, deceive or behave in such a way as to have an adverse effect on the standing of any veterinary practitioner or the veterinary profession”.4

The second is clause 12 of the same Code: “A veterinary practitioner must maintain the confidentiality of information obtained in the course of professional practice”, with some exceptions it lists.4 That one matters the moment you reply to a review.

The third is consumer law, enforced by the ACCC, the national consumer watchdog. It says it is “against the law for a business to” create fake or misleading reviews, that a business may mislead if it suppresses or edits negative reviews, and that incentives for reviews must apply “regardless of whether the reviewer leaves a positive or negative review” and be “clearly disclosed”.5

How to use reviews in your advertising, step by step

Each step below is a rule above put to work, the way I’d do it.

1. Ask every client, the same way. Google suggests asking customers “to visit a Google link or scan a QR code” (a square barcode a phone camera can read).6 Put the link on every receipt or follow-up message, not only on the ones that went well; Google’s rules do not allow a business to “selectively solicit positive reviews from customers”.7
2. Offer nothing for a review. Google’s rules also bar offering incentives “in exchange for posting any review”,7 so the simplest path is no reward at all.
3. Reply to every review, and say nothing private. Thank the reviewer and answer their point, but leave out the animal’s condition, the treatment and the bill, even if the client mentioned them first. Clause 12 is the reason, and a reply is public to anyone who finds you.
4. Show reviews whole on your website. Quote the review as written, with the reviewer’s first name, and never trim a mixed review down to its good half. If you show a star rating, show how many reviews it rests on; the ACCC’s own example puts three stars beside a count of 24 reviews.5
5. Ask before a review goes in an advert. A review on Google was written for Google. Before you put a client’s words in a flyer or a paid advert, I’d ask them, and I’d keep their reply.
6. Claim no more than the review says. One dog’s recovery is one dog’s recovery. Clause 6 says you must not mislead,4 so the words around a review shouldn’t promise the same result to every pet.

Does the same routine suit a dentist, a GP or a physio?

No. Section 133 binds them, and a review about treatment can’t go in their advertising.13 A GP is a family doctor, and a physio is a physiotherapist; both are on the Law’s list.

If you share a building or a newsletter with a health clinic, keep your reviews on your own pages. What’s fine on a vet’s website could be an offence on theirs.

What is changing, and when?

The rules above are dated, and two of them are moving. The NSW legislation site says the Veterinary Practice Regulation 2013, which holds the Code, “is currently due to be automatically repealed under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989 on 1 September 2027”.4

It also shows amendments to the Veterinary Practice Act by the Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 2022, Schedule 5.33, “to commence on 5.11.2026”.2 I haven’t read what those amendments change, so check the Act and the Code again before you rewrite your website.

If you’d rather hand it over

Get Found is the part of our menu that does this work: reviews asked for the lawful way and every one answered. One card on it, Every review answered, drafts each reply in your voice, and you approve it before it goes.

Start with one thing, or a bundle. If yours is different, we scope it.

Book a free hour. We’ll look at your Google listing and your reviews together on the call.