Making GP websites easier to use

Response - 16 December 2022

Many of us use our GP practice website to find out vital information such as out-of-hours care and making a complaint. When we discovered that many were difficult to navigate, we created a tool to help practices improve their websites for patients.
A man sitting at a desk with a laptop, taking notes

Our team of volunteers assessed nine GP websites, and asked four questions:

  • Can patients find out how to access the service they need?
  • Do they know who to contact out of hours?
  • What if they have particular support needs?
  • Is information up-to-date, accessible and easy to understand?

Only one website had accessibility information for a disabled person and seven did not have information in Easy Read. Four of the websites did not have a translate function to change the text into different languages. Eight did not include information on booking an interpreter.

Examples of good practice included videos explaning common health conditions, and information about disabled parking and hearing loops.

This work has since been picked up by both the University of Bristol and One Care GP Federation. The university looked at a further 10 GP practices, and One Care are now pulling together all the existing good practice guides, including our website review tool, in order to help GP practices across the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area to improve. They plan to collect feedback from patients and share NHS guidelines around creating a highly usable and accessible GP website for patients.

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