Is your NHS Practice website looking a bit lonely? Are those registration numbers not quite hitting the mark? Well, buckle up, because we’re about to turn that around. In this article, we’ll walk you through some tried-and-tested strategies to increase patient registrations on your website. Let’s get started!

In October 24, a national mandate comes in to use the NHS England registration form. This is available to patients via Find a GP and the NHS App.

What we have found over the last few months, is that practices who have this enabled get 10-15% more registrations. This is because when searching for a GP on these two platforms, those with the form enabled, show up with the following big green button, which patients are more likely to click vs. practices without this.

Switching this on is easy:

What do patients do when they want to find a new GP practice? They search the web. And in doing so they’ll stumble across reviews on search engines.

So don’t forget to keep an eye on your reviews online! It’s important to communicate with patients, even if their review isn’t positive. Patients are more likely to register with your practice if they trust you. And how do you build trust? Through transparency.

These days, we’re used to being able to sign up to things in just a few taps or clicks. So why should registering with a GP practice be any different?

Your practice website is your digital front door. We know that having registrations front and centre on your website and across your social media helps promote prospective patients choosing your practice.

Seeking certifications such as Pride in Practice, Veteran Friendly, and Safe Surgeries adds credibility to the care you provide to minority patient groups and can help boost your registration numbers too!

As well as your registration link you can use a QR code allowing patients to scan and be taken straight to the registration form. Many practices put this outside their building to make it simple for people walking past to sign up.

Making it easier for patients to find you and register is a great way of reducing friction or barriers to signing up. In your local area do you have any newly built blocks of flats, new housing estates, or student accommodation blocks?

For our practice here in Stratford, we dropped leaflets round to new build flats with some more information about the practice and a QR code on how to register. We had an influx of 100-200 registrations just from this bit of work which made it easier for patients to find us.

Regarding advertisement of your practice, as long as you're not using patients data to target anyone and not saying that your practice is super and better than anyone else in the local area, then there aren't specific blockers.

In 2021/22 NHS England published that practices were paid nearly £164 on average per registered patient and, when you take into account potential performance-based income like QOF, there is a clear business-driver for boosting registrations.

But how exactly?

Attracting more patients to your practice isn’t about tricks or gimmicks. It’s about creating a welcoming, accessible, and engaging online space that meets their needs.

And it starts right from the registration process itself.

By implementing these strategies, you can increase patient registrations and ensure your practice thrives!