If your practice website went offline this morning, where would you find the information needed to get patients to the right place? Could someone in your team quickly find the current details, working links and people who can help?
The recovery work following the Silicon Practice / FootFall disruption has made that question very real. Between 27 and 29 October, our team was gathering essential content, checking patient routes and working with the NHS DNS team on website addresses. Often, the next step depended on a small piece of information the practice could confirm.
This is a practical check for any practice, whatever provider you use. You do not need to become a website expert or write another lengthy policy. A short, up-to-date folder can support your existing business continuity plan and save a lot of searching at a difficult moment.
1. A copy of your content you can take with you
Your practice information should remain available to you if your website provider becomes unavailable. Ask for a straightforward way to download a current copy, or request a complete export in files another provider can open and use.
Start with the essentials patients need first: your practice name, telephone numbers, addresses, opening hours and branch details. Include the current instructions for appointments, prescriptions, registration and getting help when the practice is closed.
For a fuller rebuild, the export should also include:
The content of every page, with its title, web address and place in the navigation.
Practice-owned photographs, logos, documents and other downloadable files, preferably in their original quality.
Links to external services and any current notices or temporary arrangements.
A clear note of which third-party images or materials are licensed, and whether that permission allows reuse.
Keeping the copy useful and safe
Keep a dated copy in an approved practice location you can access independently of the website provider, and agree how it will be kept current. Open the files to check they contain what you expect. An export that nobody can read is little help in an emergency.
This is about your practice’s content and assets. A provider’s software, design templates and licensed stock images are not automatically yours to transfer. Patient records and clinical submissions need their own secure arrangements and must not be included in a general website content pack.
We have been recovering public content from web archives, but an archived page can be incomplete or out of date. A current export gives a new provider a much better starting point for rebuilding your website. It complements your provider’s technical backups and recovery arrangements.
2. The right links, with someone to check them
“Our online services” is rarely just one service. A website may link to a separate consultation platform, registration service or prescription system. Record the actual destination for each important task, not just the address of the page on your own website that links to it.
| What to keep | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| The service name and direct link | Does it work, and is it the route patients should use now? |
| The service owner and support contact | Who can confirm an alternative if it becomes unavailable? |
One recent conversation with a practice was specifically about keeping its existing consultation link until a planned clinical-system change. That detail matters more than adding a new feature in a hurry. A link that opens is not, by itself, proof that the whole service is working.
3. An NHS address, with a clear route to change provider
For eligible GP practices, our recommendation is to use an NHS domain as your main website address. The recent disruption has highlighted an important continuity benefit: your familiar address need not depend on the company building and hosting your website.
Same address. A new destination.
yourpractice.nhs.uk
The address patients know
DNS change
Replacement website
With your new provider
Domain arrangements and checks to make
A .co.uk or .com address can also be managed independently of your website supplier. The difficulty comes when that supplier controls the domain or DNS and cannot be reached. That is a problem practices have reported to us during this disruption. Recovering access can add steps and delay, although alternatives may be available through the registrar; for UK domains, Nominet also provides a route to seek help .
NHS England’s domain guidance explains the roles of the authorised administrator and technical contacts. Keep those details current. An NHS domain makes this a clearer route, not a guarantee of instant recovery: authorisation, a ready replacement site and technical checks still matter. Check any effect on email, too.
If you need a new NHS address rather than keeping an existing one, tell patients where to find it. The new address does not automatically redirect visitors from the old one.
4. A lead, a deputy and a clear first priority
Keep your website provider’s support details alongside the relevant practice, IT and ICB contacts. Nominate who can approve the essential content and who steps in when that person is away. Use your normal secure process for account access and recovery.
Then answer one question together: what must patients be able to find first? Agreeing that helps everyone focus on the same small set of essentials. A temporary website can restore useful information while the fuller website is developed; it does not need to contain every historic news item before it helps a patient.
Keep decisions and the latest approved information in one shared place. That makes it easier for the practice and build team to work from the same version, rather than piecing together several email chains.
5. A way to tell patients what has changed
If the website itself is unavailable, a notice on that website cannot be your only way to reach patients. Know which other channels your practice can update, such as its telephone greeting, NHS profile, reception notices and official social accounts.
Prepare a short message explaining what is affected, which contact routes are available and where patients can find updates. Have it approved before use. If your address changes, tell patients the exact new address and check the places that still point to the old one.
Avoid promising a restoration time until it is confirmed. Clear, accurate instructions are more useful than reassurance a patient cannot act on.
Try it with a colleague
Ten minutes. No technical changes.
Imagine the website and your usual website contact are both unavailable. Can you find these five things?
This is a quick discussion prompt, not a compliance score. Ticks are not saved or sent. Note anything missing in your own continuity plan and agree who will update it.
The NCSC’s continuity guidance recommends identifying critical services, involving suppliers and testing plans. The guidance covers cyber incidents; knowing your dependencies and rehearsing decisions are useful habits when a supplier or website becomes unavailable too.
You do not have to manage the technical recovery yourself
Our job is to help with the website, work through the domain arrangements and keep the next steps clear. The practice’s knowledge of its current services is what makes that work useful to patients. Keeping a few essentials ready helps both teams spend less time searching and more time getting the right information online.
If you are affected now, read about our emergency website support or tell us what your practice needs . For a planned move, our website switching guide covers the wider handover. This small continuity folder is something you can prepare whichever provider you choose.
