What Every GP Website Should Feature – And What It Should Not
GP websites are standard nowadays. Every GP practice has one. And many have had a functioning website for many years. As time passes, what you want and need to have on a GP website changes too – as does what you don’t want to feature. Here is our guide on what every GP website should feature – and what it should not.
What Every GP Website Should Feature – The Basics
There are some basic features every GP website should contain. Let’s start at the very start with some recent guidance from the NHS. It should contain your contact details. That means how to get in touch with you, the practice address and any social media accounts that your practice has. When people know how to get in touch with you, they feel more confident in your practice. The opening hours for the practice are also essential here.
What Every GP Website Should Feature – The Next Level
User Experience is a key phrase in web design. It refers to making sure that people can easily navigate a site to find what they arrived there for. The more effortless it is to get what they want from a website, the more they will return. A quality GP website needs to have all the information at hand. The menus are key to the success of this. Here at iatro, we’ve been helping GP’s make their websites more usable for many years. Again, the NHS guidance here states that users should be at the core of everything you do with a GP website.
Another recommendation from the NHS is to use the NHS ‘look and feel’ on your site. The NHS brand is known and trusted throughout the UK. Using this branding will allow users to feel comfortable and confident in your website. Trust is a key factor when visiting any website.
What Every GP Website Should Feature – Interactive Services
And this is where we look to making the life of your patients as easy as possible. If you migrate certain aspects of your GP practice to your website, then you also make life easier for the practice, If people can carry out these tasks online then you save time and money. These include –
- Make, change or cancel and appointment
- Get a repeat prescription
- Get a sick note for work
- Get test results
- Register with/join the practice
The days of a GP website being a placeholder on the internet to display basic pieces of information are gone. A great GP website will have a range of interactive services designed to ease processes for both your patients and your practice.
What Every GP Website Should Not Feature
One of the biggest issues with any GP website is making sure the information is kept up to date. Some GP websites have up to 200 pages on them. The data needs to be checked on a regular basis. Out of date information is most definitely something no GP website should feature. Make it part of your plans to check the information on every page of your site regularly.
Clutter is another thing that every GP website should not feature. If you page for making appointments, for example, is filled with mases of text then it could be difficult for your patients to find the thing that they wanted – to make an appointment.
In terms of the words, there isn’t a need to remove them all. But please make sure that the words on there are necessary. And the button to click to make an appointment is clear and easily seen.
So that those patients that want to read all about the appointment system can, and those patients that want to just make an appointment can do that.
Remember at all times that a GP website is about function rather than what it looks like. People click there to do something or find something out. Allow them to do this and you will prosper. If you have any questions about how all of this pulls together then get in touch. We’re here to help answer any questions you have about what your GP website should feature – and what it should not.
