AHPRA Advertising for Podiatrists: Claims and Titles That Cross the Line

AHPRA podiatry advertising follows section 133 of the National Law and AHPRA's advertising guidelines. Those are the main health ad rules. Two things make your field different from physio or chiro. First, podiatry is one of the few fields where a protected specialist title really exists. So the usual advice to strip every title off your page is wrong here. Second, that title changes on 5 October 2026, when podiatric surgeon becomes surgical podiatrist. Only 40 podiatrists held the specialist registration when the change was reviewed. There were 6,038 in the country.

What rules cover podiatry advertising in Australia?

You follow the same rules as every other registered health field. You also have one rule that almost nobody else has.

Podiatrists are registered health practitioners. That means every word on your website falls under AHPRA's advertising guidelines. The guidelines list five things your ads must not do. Here they are in plain words.

• Your ads must not be false or misleading, or be likely to mislead.
• They must not offer a gift, discount or other deal, unless you also state the terms and conditions.
• They must not use testimonials, or things made to look like testimonials, about your service or business.
• They must not make people expect more from treatment than is reasonable.
• They must not push people, directly or indirectly, to use health care they do not need.

That list is the same for a physio, a dentist and a podiatrist. I have written the same five out for physiotherapy and for chiropractic.

The part that is different for you is titles. And podiatry has a title problem with a date on it.

What changes for podiatrists on 5 October 2026?

The protected specialist title changes. From 5 October 2026, podiatric surgeon becomes surgical podiatrist.

It is worth knowing how this came about. It shows you what AHPRA is really worried about.

In October 2023 the Podiatry Board of Australia asked for an independent review. It looked at how podiatric surgeons are regulated. Professor Ron Paterson led it. AHPRA shared the outcome in a news item on the review. The finding had nothing to do with the standard of care. Here are Paterson's own words.

"The issues raised around the title “podiatric surgeon” do not relate to the standard of care provided by the podiatric surgeon. Rather, the issues relate to clarity and transparency for the consumer about the type of practitioner they are seeing, and the type of training the practitioner has completed."

In short, the worry was that patients could not tell what kind of practitioner they were seeing. Here is what he advised.

"In my view, “surgical podiatrist” is a more apt description of this specialty. It would make it clear that the practitioner is part of the podiatry profession and should reduce consumer confusion about their qualifications and training."

Health ministers approved it. The Australian Medical Association reported in October 2025 that the new title starts on 5 October 2026. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons had pushed for wider protection of the word surgeon. It recorded the same outcome.

So why is this an ad problem for you, and more than a new business card? A protected title cuts both ways. Using it when you are not entitled to it is an offence. If you keep it on your site after the change, your site is out of date at best. AHPRA has shown how strictly it reads this. When the medical title surgeon was restricted, the guidelines said every mention had to go.

"All references to ‘surgeon' must be removed from all advertising including (but not limited to) websites, social media, letterheads, business cards and clinic windows."

That list covers websites, social media, letterheads, business cards and clinic windows. That is how thorough the regulator expects you to be with a title change. Assume the same list applies to yours.

Can a podiatrist call themselves a specialist?

Some podiatrists can. But very few hold the right registration, so very few may use it.

This is where general health marketing advice lets podiatry down. The usual line is that nobody may call themselves a specialist, because the National Law keeps that word for a few. I have written that line myself for other fields. For podiatry the rule is different. AHPRA says so in the same paragraph where it restricted the medical title.

"The new section only applies to registered medical practitioners. It does not change the rules for use of protected titles by health practitioners with specialist registration in the dental and podiatry professions, or for dentists using the title dental surgeon."

Podiatry sits with medicine and dentistry as a field with specialist registration. So the title is real. The question is who holds it.

Read the middle number again. AHPRA found that this small group draws more complaints than similar fields. That finding led to a review, and the review led to the title change.

So if you are one of the 40, your title is real. It is about to change, and your ads are read more closely than most. If you are one of the other 5,998, the word specialist should not be on your page at all.

Which foot health claims cross the line?

The risky claims are the ones that promise a result. So are the ones that push a person toward treatment they may not need.

Two of the five rules do most of the work in podiatry. Your ads must not make people expect more from treatment than is reasonable. And they must not push people to use health care they do not need.

Foot health copy walks into both without meaning to. The conditions last a long time and people get fed up. So it is tempting to promise relief. Here is how you can keep the same message and stay inside the rules.

None of this stops you selling. It only stops you selling with a promise you cannot back up. The full rules are in my post on the AHPRA advertising guidelines.

Can a podiatry clinic use patient reviews?

You cannot use the clinical ones. The rule is narrower than most clinics think. It is also wider than they hope.

Section 133(1)(c) of the National Law bans any health ad that "uses testimonials or purported testimonials about the service or business". That means real testimonials, and ones made to look real. AHPRA then explains the term.

"In the context of the National Law, testimonials are recommendations or positive statements about the clinical aspects of a regulated health service used in advertising."

The key words are clinical aspects. AHPRA goes on to say that not every review or kind comment counts as a testimonial. It gives comments on customer service or how staff talk to you as examples that fall outside the rule.

So a review that says your front desk was patient and you ran on time is fine. A review that says the treatment fixed a heel is a different thing. Put that second one on your homepage and you have used a testimonial in an ad.

The trap is the review widget. A feed that pulls every Google review onto your site shows whatever it collects. That includes the clinical ones, and you switched the feed on. I cover the whole testimonial question in what counts as a testimonial under AHPRA. The before and after problem has its own post on the rules on before and after photos.

Where does the TGA take over from AHPRA?

The TGA takes over at the product. AHPRA draws the line itself, in one sentence.

"The National Law does not regulate therapeutic goods, such as medicine and medical devices. These are regulated by the TGA."

So the TGA, the medicines and devices regulator, looks after the products. That matters more for you than for most fields, because so much of your work uses a device. Orthoses, laser units, shockwave machines and dressings all count as goods. What you say about the goods is one regulator's business. How you promote your service around them is another's.

One page can break both sets of rules at once. A claim that a laser clears nail infection is a claim about a device. A claim that your clinic clears nail infection is a promise about your health service. One sentence can give you two problems with two regulators.

The fix is dull, but it works. Do not let a maker's brochure become your website copy. The brochure was written for a different reader under a different set of rules. You cannot assume you are allowed to repeat its claims.

Who is liable when an agency writes the copy?

You are, if you are the one who publishes it.

Section 3.2 of the guidelines says who is responsible.

"The person or entity who controls part or all of the advertising (i.e. who authorises the content) is the advertiser."

In plain words, whoever signs off on the ad owns it. And the guidelines count the very thing every clinic does when it hires help. You have control if "they publish or authorise content or direct someone to publish or draft content (including a third party, staff member or marketing agency)".

Then comes the line that settles it. "Advertisers are responsible for their advertising, so they need to check any content produced by others on their behalf."

Your agency may be responsible too. That adds their name to the list, but it does not take yours off. If your agency has never asked if you hold specialist registration, they cannot have checked the title on your homepage. I have written about that gap in does your marketing agency understand AHPRA.

What should a podiatry clinic fix before October?

You have six things to fix, and five of them take an afternoon.

1. Find every use of the old title. Check your website, footer, staff bios and social profiles. Check your Google Business Profile, directory listings, letterhead and email signatures. Check your signs and your booking system too. Use the regulator's own list as your checklist.
2. Check who really holds specialist registration. Look each practitioner up on the public register, and do not just trust the bio. If nobody holds it, the word specialist should not appear anywhere.
3. Put 5 October 2026 in your diary. Book the swap for the week before, so you are not fixing it the week after.
4. Check your review feed. Read what it shows right now, and do not assume you know.
5. Take out promises of results. Search your own site for cure, permanent, guaranteed, eliminate and pain free. Rewrite each one to describe the treatment instead.
6. Keep device claims apart from service claims. Anything you copied from a supplier needs its own check under the TGA rules. The AHPRA rules are not enough for it.

The title change is a rare kind of deadline. It is easy to meet, and it would be awkward to miss. It is published, it has a date, and it applies to a page you already own.

If you want your whole site checked, and not just the title, that is what I do. Every flag comes with the rule it breaks and new wording to use. Podiatry clinics are covered on the podiatry page.