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Check your practice website against NHS England's benchmark

There are 30 questions and they take about five minutes. Answer them while you look at your own website and you'll get a list of what to fix, starting with what patients will notice. Your answers aren't saved, and we only see them if you choose to send them.

Start the check

The 30 questions

Have your website open in another tab. If you're not sure of an answer, pick 'Not sure' and it goes on your list to check.

0 of 30 answered

Booking an appointment

Can patients get to your appointments page in one click from the homepage?
Does the appointments page explain every way to book: by phone, in person and online?
Does it say what to do about an urgent problem on the day?
Does it explain how to change or cancel an appointment?
Is your online consultation form linked from the page, with a line on when to use it?

Prescriptions

Can patients get to a prescriptions page in one click from the homepage?
Does it explain how to order a repeat prescription, and how long it takes?
Does it explain how to order online, for example through the NHS App?
Does it tell patients how to ask a question about their medicine?
Does it help patients find their nearest pharmacy?

Test results

Can patients find test results information from the homepage?
Does it say when to phone for results?
Does it explain how to see results online?

Contact and opening hours

Is Contact in the main menu?
Does the contact page give your phone number, address and opening hours?
Are your opening hours written out in full, like 'Monday to Friday, 8am to 6:30pm'?
Do you say what to do when you're closed, including when to use NHS 111?
Do you describe access at the building, such as parking, step-free access and a hearing loop?

Finding your way around

Is the site free of pop-ups and boxes that cover the page?
Is there one main menu, with Appointments and Prescriptions in it?
On a phone, is the menu behind a button that says 'Menu'?
Is there a search box, and does searching 'prescription' bring up the right page first?
Could a 10-year-old follow the wording on your appointments and prescriptions pages?
Is there an accessibility statement for the website, linked from every page?

Registering and practice details

Can new patients find how to register from the homepage, and register online?
Can people check whether they live in your catchment area?
Can patients ask for a fit note online?
Can patients update their contact details online?
Do you explain how to complain, and where to go if they're unhappy with your answer?
Do you list your clinical team, with each GP's qualifications?

Where the questions come from

NHS England's GP Website Benchmarking and Improvement Tool scores a practice website against 50 points drawn from research with patients. This check takes 30 of them, in plain words, so you can run through it in about five minutes.

The full benchmark takes longer, because someone has to work through every page. Your ICB can run it with you, and it's what we score the practice websites we build against. Read NHS England's guide to GP websites.

How we build practice websites

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