Last updated: 23 September 2026
Melbourne Naturopathy (“we”, “us”, “our”) provides naturopathy, nutrition, remedial massage and acupuncture services from 352 St Georges Rd, Thornbury VIC 3071, and by phone and video. We respect your privacy and handle personal and health information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), including the Australian Privacy Principles, and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), including the Health Privacy Principles.
This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we look after it and how you can access or correct it.
What information we collect
We only collect information that is reasonably necessary to provide our services. This may include:
- Contact details: your name, phone number, email address, postal address and date of birth.
- Health information: your health history, current symptoms and concerns, medications and supplements, lifestyle and dietary information, pathology and test results, treatment notes and the details of the care we provide.
- Billing and health fund details: information needed to process payments and health fund rebates. We do not store full credit card numbers on our website.
- Emergency contact and referring practitioner details, if you give them to us.
- Enquiry information: what you tell us when you call, email or use the enquiry form on our website.
- Website usage information: such as pages visited, device and browser type, and general location, collected through cookies and analytics tools (see “Our website” below).
You can make a general enquiry without giving your full name, but we cannot provide consultations or treatment anonymously.
How we collect information
We collect information directly from you wherever we can: when you book online, complete an intake form, contact us by phone or email, use our website enquiry form, or attend a consultation. With your consent, we may also collect information from other health practitioners, pathology laboratories or your health fund.
Why we use your information
- To assess your needs and provide safe, appropriate care.
- To manage appointments, send reminders and respond to your enquiries.
- To arrange pathology or functional testing you have agreed to.
- To process payments and health fund claims.
- To communicate with other practitioners involved in your care, with your consent.
- To meet our legal, professional and insurance obligations.
- To improve our services and website.
- To send you newsletters or clinic updates, only if you have signed up. You can unsubscribe at any time.
When we share information
We do not sell or rent your personal information. We only share it when it is needed for the purposes above, you have consented, or the law requires or permits it. This may include:
- Pathology and testing laboratories, when you have agreed to a test.
- Your GP, specialist or other practitioners involved in your care, with your consent.
- Health funds, to process claims.
- Service providers who help us run the clinic, such as our practice management and online booking system (Cliniko), payment processors, email and IT providers. They may only use your information to provide those services to us.
- Where required or authorised by law, or where there is a serious threat to someone’s life, health or safety.
Some of our service providers may store data outside Australia (for example, on cloud servers). Where this happens we take reasonable steps to make sure your information is protected to a standard consistent with Australian privacy law.
Our website
Enquiry form. When you send a message through our website, your name, phone, email, suburb and message are emailed to our reception team. Please don’t include detailed medical information in an enquiry; we will go through that with you at your consultation.
Online booking. Bookings are made through Cliniko, our practice management system. Information you enter when booking is collected and stored by Cliniko on our behalf.
Remembering your details. If you tick “Remember my details on this device” on our enquiry form, your name, phone, email and suburb are saved in your own browser only, so the form is pre-filled next time. You can clear this by unticking the box or clearing your browser data.
Cookies, analytics and advertising. We use cookies and similar tools, including Google Analytics and Google Ads, to understand how people use our site and to measure our advertising. These tools collect information such as pages visited and device type, but not your health information. We also use Google reCAPTCHA to protect our forms from spam, which is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings.
Third party sites. Our website links to other sites such as Google, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.
How we store and protect your information
Health records are stored electronically in secure, password protected systems, and any paper records are kept securely at the clinic. Access is limited to staff who need it to do their job. We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, change or disclosure.
We keep health records for the periods required by law. Under Victorian law this is generally at least seven years after your last visit, or for a child, until they turn 25. After that we destroy or de-identify records securely.
Accessing and correcting your information
You can ask to see or get a copy of the personal and health information we hold about you, and ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Please contact us in writing. We will respond within 30 days. We may need to confirm your identity, and in limited circumstances allowed by law we may decline access, in which case we will explain why. We may charge a reasonable fee for providing copies, but not for making a request.
Questions and complaints
If you have a question about this policy or a concern about how we have handled your information, please contact us:
Melbourne Naturopathy
352 St Georges Rd, Thornbury VIC 3071
Phone: (03) 9484 4668
Email: reception@melbournenaturopathy.com.au
We will acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact:
- The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: www.oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992
- The Victorian Health Complaints Commissioner: hcc.vic.gov.au, 1300 582 113
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page.