Private general practice sells availability, and the site hides it
Someone looking for a private GP has usually decided to pay already. What they want to know is whether they can be seen today. A site that cannot answer that loses them to one that can.
Cause 1: availability is invisible, so they ring to ask
Every one of those calls is a receptionist doing something a page could do, and every unanswered one is a patient who called somewhere else.
The symptom: "contact us to arrange an appointment".
The change: live availability on the site for both in-person and video appointments. Semble, Meddbase, Cliniko, Jane and Zanda all expose it. Showing a slot at 4:40pm today converts better than any amount of copy about your standards of care.
Cause 2: fees are only quoted on the phone
A private patient is comparing you against another private practice and, implicitly, against waiting. Refusing to publish the fee reads as expensive.
The change: consultation fees by type and length, plus the common extras — blood tests, letters, prescriptions, referrals. Patients arrive knowing, and the ones who cannot afford it do not occupy a slot to find out.
Cause 3: the same three questions absorb the whole day
Prescriptions, referrals, test results. Each one is asked constantly and answered individually.
The change: a page each, saying what happens, what it costs and how long it takes. This is the single biggest reduction in call volume available to a private practice, and each page also ranks for a real search.
Cause 4: video consultations are treated as a footnote
For a private practice, remote appointments extend your catchment past your postcode and fill gaps in the diary.
The change: give them their own appointment type in the booking and their own page explaining what can and cannot be handled remotely. Being honest about the limits increases trust rather than reducing bookings.
Cause 5: the practice looks like a website, not a clinic
Private patients are paying for reassurance as much as access.
The change: clinician profiles with registration numbers, training and areas of focus, plus real photographs of the practice. Stock imagery of a stethoscope actively undermines a private fee.
Fix them in this order
Live availability first — it is what the visitor came for. Fees second. The prescriptions, referrals and results pages third; they pay for themselves in reduced calls within weeks. Then video, then the profiles.
Where this sits
Our private GP websites ship with live availability and published fees, at a fixed price. The audit version is the private GP checklist. The wider clinic view is on the clinics page.