Check your postcode

We designed the postcode widget to help people see if they live within a GP practice boundary and therefore eligible to register as a patient.

This useful tool helps reduce inbound calls to GP practices and also (when coupled with our online registration solution) automates the patient registration process, a real time saver for the practice staff and a great help for patients new to your area.

Test it out to see it how it works, enter the postcode SE11

Why do GPs need a website?

Here we take a look at why you should have one and the benefits of GP websites.

Of course,  you don’t have to have a website for your practice, it is not compulsory and you may think you have been managing well without one. And, you may not have a budget or the resources to run a website.

However, you will be missing so many opportunities. These include

  • Automating tasks
  • Creating awareness of your practice and services
  • Reducing the amount of time your staff spend dealing with common (& often unnecessary) patient requests
  • Streamlining internal processes
  • Generate income for your practice

Yes, you did read that last point correctly. I did say “generate income for your practice”. More on that later, first I want to dispel the myth that the cost of commissioning and running a website is a barrier to entry.

There are two type of website provider who offer services to to GP practices: those who charge annual site fees and those who only charge once for the lifetime of your website. The first type, illustrated below, could well be the ‘barrier’ I mentioned above.

Annual fees:
Most often you will be quoted a price to get your website ‘up and running’. The average charge for a site is around the £300 mark (or as some like to put it “£25 per month”) & if applicable, you may have to pay VAT on top of this. On the face of it, that’s not a huge amount to pay. However, the downside is that you will have to pay that fee repeatedly every year. It is easy to see how over time you will be paying more.

One off fees:
As the title suggests this is where you pay just once for your site with no recurring website fees to incur. Providers who offer this type of package are few and far between and should you find one (other than us) the one off price you pay will vary. We charge just £495.

Either of the above type of provider will offer different services included in their price:
Getting a clear understanding of what’s included is essential. A few examples would be

  • Support
  • Component parts of the website
  • Interactive services
  • Website back-up
  • Optimising your website for search engine positioning (critical if you want to be found on the internet)

Managed services (a ‘hands off’ service where the provider does all the updating for you, page content amendments & creation etc) more often than not will be an additional charge.

In addition to the website cost the other fee to look out for is the yearly web hosting charge. Some providers include this in their annual fee, others may charge you on top. The amount will vary between each provider. We charge £45 per year which covers back-up and  .uk domain renewal fees (where relevant).

In our next post we will take a look at some of the key features of a GP website that are needed and by implementation of certain applications, how you can generate income for your practice.

Terms & Conditions | Copyright © Doctors Websites 2013. All Rights Reserved.