What a Private Clinic Website Needs: A Practical UK Checklist

Start with the patient's questions

Before thinking about design, list the questions a new patient asks before booking. Reception staff know them well, because they answer them on the phone every day. They usually include: do you treat this, who will I see, how much is it, how soon can I be seen, where are you, and what happens at the first appointment. A clinic website that answers those questions clearly will do most of what it needs to do.

This checklist works through the pages and features that answer them, then the rules that apply to healthcare websites in the UK. It is written for clinic owners and practice managers, not lawyers, so where a rule is mentioned, the source is linked for anyone who needs the detail.

The core pages

Treatment pages that answer one question each

Patients search for specific things. A page for each treatment, test or condition gives each search a good answer. Each page should say who the treatment may suit and when someone should seek NHS or emergency care instead, what happens before, during and after, who carries it out, what it costs and what is included, and the risks, written factually with your clinicians.

Section 12 of the CAP Code, which covers advertising of medicines and health-related services, requires objective claims to be backed by evidence and says marketers must not discourage essential treatment for conditions where medical supervision should be sought^[1]. A clinic's own website counts as marketing, so treatment pages are covered. Our guide to ASA rules for healthcare websites explains what that means for wording.

Fees patients can find

Self-paying patients compare prices, and a clinic that hides them loses enquiries to one that does not. Show the fee for each routine service, what it includes, and what costs extra. Where a fee depends on assessment, say what the assessment costs and give a typical range for treatment if you can do so honestly.

Consultants who see private patients have additional fee information duties under the Competition and Markets Authority's Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014, which run through the Private Healthcare Information Network and letters to patients. Our guide on fee information and PHIN sets these out.

One exception: prescription-only medicines may not be advertised to the public^[1], and that includes their prices. Clinics offering anti-wrinkle injections or weight management medicines need a different approach, covered in our guide on prescription-only medicines and aesthetic clinic websites.

Clinicians patients can check

Every regulated clinician on your website should be easy to verify. The General Medical Council's online register shows whether a doctor is registered and licensed, whether they are on the GP or Specialist Register, and any conditions or warnings^[2]. Link each profile to the right register entry. It reassures patients and keeps your claims tied to the regulator's record. The guide on showing GMC, NMC and HCPC registration covers each register.

Your regulator and rating

In England, providers registered and rated by the Care Quality Commission must display their rating. Regulation 20A requires every website maintained by or on behalf of the provider to show the CQC website address, a link to the most recent assessment and the most recent rating^[3]. CQC's guidance says this applies to websites where you describe your service and must be done within 21 calendar days of the rating being published^[4]. Clinics in Wales and Scotland are registered with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and Healthcare Improvement Scotland respectively^[5][6], and should show those details.

Our guide on displaying CQC ratings online explains where and how.

A safe way to request an appointment

A request form should collect enough for reception to call back: name, contact details, the service and preferred times. It should not ask for symptoms or medical history. Health information is special category data under UK GDPR, which needs both an Article 6 lawful basis and an Article 9 condition^[7]. Keeping it out of the website form keeps it out of email and form logs. The guide on health data and online forms goes further.

Policies that match the site

• Privacy notice. What the site collects, why, where it goes and how long it is kept. People have the right to be told this when their data is collected^[8].
• Cookie notice. Which cookies the site sets and why. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 added new exceptions to the consent rules, in force from 5 February 2026, for some analytics and preference cookies, with conditions set out in the ICO's final guidance (29 April 2026)^[9][10].
• Complaints. How to complain and who to escalate to.
• Accessibility statement. What standard the site aims for, any known issues, and how to ask for information in another format.

Reviews, used carefully

Reviews help patients choose, but quoting them on your site brings rules with them. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act bans fake reviews and reviews that conceal an incentive, and requires businesses that publish reviews to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent fake or misleading ones^[11]. The reviews and testimonials guide explains how to use them safely.

Usable by everyone, quickly

Clinic websites are used by people with a wide range of needs, often on phones. Build to WCAG 2.2 AA^[12] and check the main pages with a keyboard and at high zoom. For speed, Google treats a page as good when its main content loads within 2.5 seconds, it responds to input within 200 milliseconds and layout shift stays at 0.1 or less, at the 75th percentile of visits^[13].

A short checklist

1. Home page says who you treat, where and how to book.
2. One page per treatment, test or condition.
3. Fees shown, with inclusions, except for prescription-only medicines.
4. Clinician profiles linked to the public register.
5. Regulator details and rating displayed where required.
6. Appointment form without health questions.
7. Privacy, cookies, complaints and accessibility pages that match the site.
8. Reviews quoted only with the safeguards the law requires.
9. Main pages tested on a phone, with a keyboard and at high zoom.