Category: 7.2. Why and how to create a website
Marple Cottage Surgery, on the outskirts of Stockport, near Manchester, has around 6,000 registered patients. Some were not visiting the practice regularly and were unaware of the range of services on offer.
The practice was also finding that some patients were telephoning or dropping in to the practice with simple queries that could be answered online.
After developing its own website (www.marplecottage.co.uk), Marple Cottage:
Patients access the online facilities through a security portal, which requires a log-on password and identification number. These are easily obtained from the practice.
Marple Cottage outsources the technical maintenance of the site, but all staff members are responsible for updating the information on it. Websites cost anything from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds to build, depending on the structure and provider.
‘We’re a business, and a business needs to inform its customers about what it’s offering,’ says Practice Manager Johan Taylor.
‘It’s a two-way thing. We ask patients to communicate with us, and we put things up there to communicate with them, like patient or screening questionnaires. We’re currently updating the website to make it more interactive, to get more involvement from the patients,’ adds Johan.
He says the website is well used and well liked by patients, a view supported by Sandy, a 62-year-old patient and regular website user, who is disabled.
‘The online system is a lifesaver. I use it to book appointments and get repeat prescriptions and I can also email my doctor – which if you’re housebound is marvellous. I can also access my medical records,’ she says.
Johan Taylor
johan.taylor@gp-p88006.nhs.uk
