Will our website go offline when we switch?

It shouldn't. Your old site stays live until the new one is ready, and the .nhs.uk address points to the new site in one change. Patients may see the old site for a few hours while the change spreads.

Can we keep our .nhs.uk address?

Yes. The address belongs to your practice, not your supplier. Find out who is listed as its administrator before you start.

What if our current supplier won't help?

You don't need their help to move the address, only the administrator's. Save what you need from the old site yourself before the contract ends.

Changing GP website supplier: checklist

Moving your practice website is less work than it sounds, and your patients shouldn’t notice anything apart from a better site. Print this page and tick things off. Our guide to keeping your .nhs.uk address explains the address move in more detail.

1. Before you choose

Three months or more before your current contract ends

Find your current contract. Note the end date, the notice period, and whether it renews on its own.
Find out who is listed as the administrator and technical contact for your .nhs.uk address.
Ask your current supplier whether they also run email on your website address. If they do, plan that move too.
Run a free check of your current site, so you know what the new one needs to fix.
Send the same questions to two or three suppliers and compare the full cost over three years.

2. When you've chosen

As soon as you sign

Give notice to your current supplier in writing, by the method the contract asks for. Keep a copy.
Agree a go-live date with your new supplier at least two weeks before your old contract ends.
Tell your partners, your team and your PPG what's changing and when.

3. Saving your content

Before your old site goes

Download form and survey submissions you need to keep for your records.
Save policies, leaflets and documents you can't find anywhere else.
List every link to an outside service: online consultation, repeat prescriptions, registration, the CQC widget, booking links.
Note any page addresses patients or other services link to, like your registration or online consultation page.

4. Checking the new site

Two to four weeks before go-live

Check opening times, phone numbers and addresses for every branch on a private preview.
Click every link to an outside service and make sure it opens the right thing.
Check the new site on a phone, because most patients will use one.
Make sure the accessibility statement, privacy notice and GP earnings are there.
Set up logins for everyone who updates the site.

5. Go-live day

Your agreed date

Your new supplier tells you the new settings for your .nhs.uk address, and the administrator asks for the change.
Check the new site loads on your address, with the padlock, on a computer and a phone.
Keep the old site running until the new one is working for everyone.

6. After go-live

The first two weeks

Check your NHS.uk profile still links to the right website, and update it in the NHS profile manager if not.
Ask a few patients, and your PPG, to try booking, ordering a prescription and finding opening times.
Update the website address anywhere you've printed it, if it changed.
Make sure your old supplier has closed your account and deleted what they hold, and ask for confirmation.

You can update your NHS.uk profile through the NHS profile manager. The GP contract asks you to review it at least once a year anyway, so moving your website is a good time.

Changing your GP website supplier: a step-by-step checklist