GP website homepages should include clear, accessible information, including: a clear and reassuring message about what the practice can offer, how the practice triage process works and how the patient can get the help they need. The website should reference all appropriate support services and the home page should be reviewed on a regular basis. This is to keep it fresh and relevant and to ensure the links work. The following guidance has been produced to support GP practices.   

Practices should include the following information on their website homepage: 

• How to get an appointment – by telephone and online (online consultation) and an explanation of triage process
• Promote self-care – pharmacy and community self-care pathways in NCL (for example, physio) Self-care - North Central London Integrated Care System (nclhealthandcare.org.uk)
• Promote NHS 111 – if need is more urgent but not 999 Get help for your symptoms - NHS 111
• Promote the NHS App – repeat medication, appointment management and seeing test results About the NHS App - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
• How to get an appointment out of hours (when practice is closed)  
• Help with an urgent health need - North Central London Integrated Care System (nclhealthandcare.org.uk)
• GP hubs – evening and weekend appointments - North Central London Integrated Care System (nclhealthandcare.org.uk)
• Links to practice social media pages – for patient information

GP surgery websites are now the front door to NHS care for many patients. Easy to use, intuitive, and accessible patient online journeys will mean millions of patients can: 

• Contact their practice to ask for help.
• Complete admin tasks.
• Navigate themselves to services.

This helps reduce the burden for practices. 

Poor online journeys that do not meet legal accessibility requirements disproportionately impact patients: 

• With moderate to low digital confidence.
• With lower levels of literacy.
• Working in a second language.
• Who use accessibility software and tools.

Here are some top tips for ensuring your website is accessible to patients: 

• Plain English: use simple language, avoid medical jargon and technical terms.
• Font: use a clear font that is easy to read, body text should be a minimum of font size 12.
• Translated materials: signpost to translated materials where possible.
• Images, charts and diagrams: provide alt text for people using screen readers.
• Use of videos: ensure videos include subtitles.

All NHS services are legally required to be accessible and meet level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1. Read the NHS accessibility guidance for more information.

As well as being accessible, it is also important for your website to look professional. The GP website benchmarking and improvement tool can help ICSs, PCNs and general practices audit and benchmark the usability of GP websites. 

Practices can use their own branding, however, if you are using NHS branding, the NHS website has comprehensive brand guidelines. 

Primary care contractors (for example GPs) are not contractually required to use the NHS primary care logo, but they are encouraged to do so to raise awareness of the NHS services they provide and to signpost patients and the public to them.

Some top tips for using graphics: 

• Images: use suitable sized images (large images can slow your website down). Don’t stretch images and make sure you use high-resolution files so images are not blurry. 
• Logos: if using a logo, whether it is the NHS logo or something different, make sure that you are using it in the correct way according to brand guidelines.