This Privacy statement applies to personal information collected about you by the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand (the Board), while carrying out its statutory functions.
The Board is a responsible authority established under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.
The Board is committed to protecting personal information and complies with the Privacy Act 2020 when collecting, using, storing, and disclosing personal information.
What information do we collect?
The Board may collect personal information about you in connection with the performance of its regulatory functions. For example, this may occur when:
- you submit an application to the Board, including an application for registration as a physiotherapist, a practising certificate, or non‐practising status
- you communicate with the Board or provide personal information to the Board, whether requested or otherwise
- the Board receives personal information about you from a third party, including as part of complaints, notifications, assessments, audits, or monitoring processes
- the Board is authorised or required by law to collect personal information
The personal information we collect may include:
information for the purpose of establishing your identity, such as your name, date of birth, or contact details;
- demographic information such as ethnicity or gender;
- employer information, where relevant;
- details of your education, qualifications, and professional experience, where relevant;
- information recorded by or about you in clinical records or patient notes;
- information about your competence and fitness to practise, including health information and information held by regulatory and law enforcement agencies.
How do we collect personal information?
Personal information may be collected directly from you or indirectly from other persons or organisations.
Indirect collection may occur where information is provided to the Board by physiotherapists, complainants, employers, patients, education providers, other responsible authorities, the Health and Disability Commissioner, Accident Compensation Corporation, law enforcement agencies, courts, or other public bodies.
This collection occurs within the scope of the Board’s statutory powers and duties under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.
Indirect collection under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003
In performing its functions under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, the Board may collect personal information about you from persons or organisations other than you.
Where the Board collects personal information about you indirectly, and unless an exception under the Privacy Act 2020 applies, the Board will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are informed, as soon as reasonably practicable after collection:
- that your personal information has been collected
- the purpose for which it has been collected, including the relevant statutory function being exercised
- the types of persons or organisations to whom the information may be disclosed
- the name and contact details of the Board as the agency collecting and holding the information
- whether the collection is authorised or required by law, including by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003
- your right to access and request correction of your personal information
In some circumstances, the Board may not notify you of the indirect collection of personal information, or may delay notification, where an exception under the Privacy Act 2020 applies.
Why do we collect personal information and how may it be used?
We collect personal information to help us perform our statutory functions and for other lawful purposes. For example, the Board may use or disclose personal information as reasonably required to communicate with you, obtain or verify information required to process your applications, deal with your requests, establish your identity, and to deal with any complaints or notifications made by or about you. Information may also be used to help us improve the Board’s processes.
If you do not supply all requested information, or the information we hold is incorrect, the Board may not be able to process your applications or deal with your requests fully.
When may your personal information be disclosed?
The Board may disclose personal information to other persons or organisations where this assists the Board to perform its statutory functions, assists another agency to perform its lawful functions, or where disclosure is authorised or required by law.
This may include disclosure to employers, other responsible authorities, the Health and Disability Commissioner, Accident Compensation Corporation, law enforcement agencies, courts, tribunals, or professional advisors.
The Board is required to make some personal information available on its public register.
Information will be disclosed in accordance with the information privacy principles in the Privacy Act 2020.
How is personal information stored and secured?
Personal information about you is collected and held by the Physiotherapy Board, Level 10, 95 Customhouse Quay, Wellington 6011. Personal information is held securely, and access is limited to those who need it to carry out the Board’s functions. Information may be stored in paper‐based formats or electronically. We may use cloud‐based electronic storage technologies to store personal information. We will take reasonable efforts to protect the personal information we hold from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, please note that some inherent risks associated with electronic technologies and the Internet are outside our control.
Can you have access to and request correction of your personal information?
You have the right to have access to any personal information we hold about you in such a way that it can readily be retrieved. You may also ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong, in accordance with the information privacy principles in the Privacy Act 2020.
To exercise these rights, or to ask us questions about your privacy, please contact us in writing or by email:
Privacy Officer
Physiotherapy Board
PO Box 10734
Wellington 6143
The terms of this Privacy Statement may change from time to time.
Effective from: 1 May 2026.