TERMS and CONDITIONS

At the time of your booking, you will receive the following Terms and Conditions document which you will need to sign and return together with your Health Diet & Lifestyle Questionnaire.

The Nutritional Therapy Descriptor

Nutritional Therapy is the application of nutrition science in the promotion of health, peak performance and individual care.

Nutritional therapy practitioners use a wide range of tools to assess and identify potential nutritional imbalances and understand how these may contribute to an individual's symptoms and health concerns. This approach allows them to work with individuals to address nutritional balance and help support the body towards maintaining health. Nutritional therapy is recognised as a complementary medicine and is relevant for individuals with chronic conditions, as well as those looking for support to enhance their health and wellbeing.

Here at Start in the Gut, we consider each individual to be unique and recommend personalised nutrition and lifestyle programmes rather than a 'one size fits all' approach. Practitioners never recommend nutritional therapy as a replacement for medical advice and always refer any client with 'red flag' signs or symptoms to their medical professional. At Start in the Gut, we will also frequently work alongside a medical professional and will communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in the client's care to explain any nutritional therapy programme that has been provided.

StartintheGut.com requests that the Client notes the following:

• The degree of benefit obtainable from Nutritional Therapy may vary between clients with similar health problems and following a similar Nutritional Therapy programme.
• Nutritional advice will be tailored to support health conditions and/or health concerns identified and agreed between both parties.
• Nutritional therapists are not permitted to diagnose, or claim to treat, medical conditions.
• Nutritional advice is not a substitute for professional medical advice and/or treatment.
• Your Nutritional Therapist may recommend food supplements and/or functional testing as part of your Nutritional Therapy programme and may receive a commission on these products or services.
• Standards of professional practice in Nutritional Therapy are governed by the CNHC Code of Conduct.

The Client understands and agrees to the following:

• You are responsible for contacting your GP or specialist about any health concerns you may have.
• If you are receiving treatment from your GP, or any other medical provider, you should tell him/her about any nutritional strategy provided by Start in the Gut. This is necessary because of any possible reaction between medication and the nutritional programme.
• You give permission for Start in the Gut to contact your GP regarding any agreed aspects of your case.
• It is important that you tell your nutritional therapist about any medical diagnosis you have received, any prescription medication, herbal medicine or food supplements or over the counter medication you are taking as it may affect the nutritional programme.
• If you are unclear about the agreed nutritional therapy programme/food supplement doses/time, period, you should contact your nutritional therapist promptly for clarification.
• Your nutritional programme and supplement plan will have a time frame and you should not continue with recommendations outside of this unless agreed by your nutritional therapist. This is to avoid any adverse reactions.
• You understand that the advice is personal to you and may not be appropriate for others.
• Recording consultations using any form of electronic media is not allowed without the written permission of both you and you Nutritional Therapist.

General Terms:

• Cancellation of appointments with less than 48 hours’ notice will be charged the full fee. Changes to appointments with less than 24 hours’ notice will be charged 50% of the full fee.
• Packages are non-refundable and are subject to a time limit in which they need to be used, specified at booking.
• The questionnaire provided by Start in the Gut must be completed and submitted at least 3 days prior to the initial appointment otherwise Start in the Gut reserves the right to change the appointment time.
• Appointments will only be confirmed once payment has been received.
• The results of laboratory tests ordered by Start in the Gut will only be discussed during a consultation and will be made available on the day of the consultation.
• Unless otherwise agreed in writing by startinthegut.com, the copyright, intellectual property, and all other rights relating to any documentation, whether electronic or hard copy, provided by or on behalf of Start in the Gut, will remain the property of Start in the Gut.
• These Terms and Conditions are to be governed by the laws of England and any disputes will be decided only by the English courts.

We understand the above and agree that our professional relationship will be based on the content of this document. We declare that all the information we share during this professional relationship is confidential and to the best of our knowledge, true and correct.

This document is confidential, and a signed copy must be retained by both the Client and the Nutritional Therapist (NT)