What a medical practice website needs

A medical practice website has four jobs: show who the practitioners are, explain what they treat, tell patients where the practice is, and make it easy to book. Around those sit the requirements patients rarely see but depend on: privacy, speed, accessibility, security and tracking. This article lists the medical website requirements Stryx would check on any practice site.

1. Clear practitioner information

Patients choose a person, not a logo. Each practitioner needs a page with:

• Full name and registered profession
• Qualifications, stated exactly as registered
• Registration number with the relevant council
• Special interests and the conditions they commonly see
• Where and when they consult
• A recent, honest photograph

This also helps in search. Google's guidance on helpful content asks sites to make clear who is behind the content, and says its systems give more weight to trust on health topics.

2. A page for each service and condition

A single services page with a line on each treatment does not answer a patient's question and gives search engines little to work with. Give each main service its own page that explains:

• What the treatment or assessment is
• Who it is for
• What happens at the appointment
• How to prepare and what to bring
• What recovery or follow-up involves

Keep the language plain. Do not promise outcomes.

3. Location, hours and contact details on every page

Many visitors come to a practice site only to find the phone number, the address or the hours. Put them where they cannot be missed:

• Phone number in the header, clickable on a phone
• Address with a map and notes on parking and access
• Consulting hours, and what to do after hours or in an emergency
• A separate page for each location if there is more than one

These details should match the practice's Google Business Profile exactly. Adding structured data helps search engines read them. Google's local business documentation requires a name and address and recommends opening hours, phone number and coordinates.

4. A booking route that works

Some practices take online bookings, some take requests and confirm by phone, and some want a call. Any of these is fine if the site makes the route obvious and the practice responds.

• Put one clear booking action on every page.
• If you use a booking system, test the whole journey on a phone. Third-party booking tools often look and behave differently from the site that leads to them.
• If bookings are by request, tell the patient what happens next.
• Tell new patients what to bring, including referral letters and medical aid details.

5. Forms that respect patient privacy

A contact form on a medical site can collect health information the moment a patient types a symptom into the message box. In South Africa, section 26 of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) lists information about a person's health as special personal information, and prohibits processing it unless one of the Act's authorisations applies.

Practical steps:

• Ask only for what is needed to respond. Name, contact details and preferred time are usually enough.
• Tell patients not to include clinical details in a general enquiry form.
• Serve the whole site over HTTPS.
• Know where form submissions are stored, who can read them and how long they are kept.
• Avoid sending sensitive submissions to shared inboxes.
• Publish a privacy notice that says what is collected and why.

The POPIA website checklist goes into more detail. Practices serving patients in the United States may fall under HIPAA. Stryx can build to those requirements where needed, usually at extra cost because of the added infrastructure. This is general information, not legal advice. Each practice should confirm its obligations with its own legal adviser or regulator.

6. Speed and usability on phones

Patients often look up a practice on a phone, sometimes while unwell or worried. Pages need to load quickly on a mobile connection, text needs to be readable without zooming, and buttons need to be large enough to tap. Heavy image sliders, video backgrounds and pop-ups work against all three.

7. Accessibility

A practice serves people with poor eyesight, limited mobility and other impairments, so its website should too. The basics:

• Enough colour contrast between text and background
• Text that can be enlarged without breaking the layout
• Every function usable with a keyboard
• Descriptive text for meaningful images
• Form fields with proper labels and clear error messages
• Headings used in order

See the guide to website accessibility in South Africa.

8. Patient information that saves phone calls

A short set of honest answers reduces calls to reception and helps patients arrive prepared.

• Which medical aids the practice works with and how accounts are handled
• Whether a referral is needed
• What to expect at a first visit
• Cancellation arrangements
• How to get results or repeat prescriptions

9. Content that follows the profession's rules

Health advertising is regulated, and the rules differ by country and profession. In South Africa, the HPCSA's Ethical Rules of Conduct allow advertising that is not unprofessional, untruthful, deceptive or misleading, and prohibit canvassing and touting. That affects superlatives, guarantees, promotional offers and patient testimonials. Stryx gives guidelines only. The practitioner confirms the final wording with the HPCSA.

10. Tracking for enquiries, calls and bookings

A practice should know how many enquiries, calls and bookings the website produces and where they came from. Set this up at launch. Configure it so that no patient health details are passed into analytics or advertising tools.

11. Security and upkeep

A medical site that is hacked or goes offline damages trust. It needs regular software updates, backups stored away from the site, and someone responsible for both. If a site is built on WordPress, this is ongoing work, not a one-off.

Where to go next

If you already have a site, start with an audit against this list. A rebuild is only worth it if the audit shows it is needed. To see how Stryx approaches practice sites, read about medical website design and clinic website design, or get in touch.