Speed Is Clinical: Slow Pages Cost GP Surgeries Time, Trust and Money

Fast, accessible websites are now part of core patient care. For GP practices and healthcare providers, page speed is no longer just “nice to have” – it directly affects task completion, patient satisfaction, call volume, and ultimately how much time and money your practice spends managing demand.

This article explains why speed is clinical, what’s slowing most practice sites down, and how a modern stack (Next.js + edge caching) combined with a clear speed playbook can transform both patient experience and practice operations.

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Why Website Speed Now Matters as Much as Phone Access

The GP Website Is Now a Front Door to Care

NHS England describes online journeys via GP websites and apps as a key “front door” to healthcare, alongside telephone and face-to-face contact, with 61% of patients using their GP website in 2023. Highly usable online journeys are now a vital part of the modern general practice model, helping to move some contacts online and relieve the 8am phone rush.

When that “front door” is slow or confusing, patients do one of three things:

• Give up and call reception
• Default to walk-in behaviour or other services
• Lose confidence in the practice’s ability to organise care

Fast, simple online journeys do the opposite: they encourage patients to self-serve safely, which benefits both patients and staff.

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Speed → Task Completion → Fewer Calls to Reception

Faster Pages, Fewer Abandoned Tasks

Every extra second a page takes to load increases the chance that patients:

• Abandon an online form
• Fail to complete an appointment request
• Don’t finish a registration
• Give up on ordering a repeat prescription

NHS guidance on GP online services highlights that when patients can book, cancel and amend appointments online, practices see reduced phone calls and greater operational efficiency. The same is true for repeat prescriptions and registration forms: if those tasks are quick and painless online, patients are less likely to ring instead.

Speed directly supports:

• Higher task completion – Patients successfully book appointments, request fit notes, complete admin queries and order repeats on the first attempt.
• Reduced admin workload – NHS England explicitly notes that online services reduce practice phone calls and visits, releasing time for other aspects of care.
• Better patient experience – Fast, reliable digital access is consistently associated with increased satisfaction and fewer complaints about “getting through”.

How This Plays Out in a Typical Morning

Imagine two practices, both offering online request forms:

Practice A – Slow, script-heavy site

• Patients click “Request an appointment”
• A spinner hangs for 6–8 seconds on mobile
• Some forms time out or throw validation errors
• Patients worry their request hasn’t gone through

What happens next:

• They ring reception “just to check” the form worked
• They retry on a different device – doubling demand
• Some give up and re-join the 8am call queue Practice B – Speed-optimised site
• “Contact us online” page loads almost instantly
• Form is simple, mobile-friendly and clearly confirms success
• Repeat prescriptions and admin requests feel effortless

What happens next:

• More patients complete tasks online at first attempt
• Fewer patients phone “to be sure”
• Reception staff can focus on patients who can’t use digital

A fast site doesn’t remove the need for phones; it makes phone access more equitable by reducing avoidable calls from patients who would happily self-serve.

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What’s Making Old GP Websites Slow (In Plain English)

Most GP websites weren’t designed for today’s traffic, expectations, or regulatory standards. Many are WordPress-based, heavily customised, and gradually weighed down over years.

The Main Culprits

Too many scripts and plugins

• Each plugin adds extra “instructions” the browser has to fetch and run.
• Over time, “just one more plugin” becomes dozens of separate scripts loading on every page.
• These scripts often load before the content, so patients stare at a blank or half-loaded page. Large, unoptimised images
• Hero banners, sliders and decorative images are often uploaded at print resolution.
• Big images are slow to download on 4G or poor Wi‑Fi, especially for patients on older devices.
• Images may not be correctly compressed or sized for mobile.

No proper caching

• Caching is like keeping a ready-made version of your page close to the patient, rather than rebuilding it from scratch each time.
• Many older sites rely on basic server caching that doesn’t work well under peak demand.
• Without caching, every visit hits the server, slowing everything down when you need it most. Shared hosting under strain
• Traditional WordPress hosting often means your site shares resources with dozens of other sites.
• When traffic spikes (for example, just after 8am), performance drops sharply.
• Patients experience slow loading or timeouts right when they’re trying to access care.

Heavy themes and page builders

• Drag‑and‑drop builders and multipurpose themes add a lot of hidden code.
• This increases the amount of data the browser has to download and process.
• Even simple pages like “Contact” or “Repeat prescriptions” become bloated. Accessibility issues that also harm speed
• Excess imagery, carousels and decorative elements not only fail WCAG good practice; they also slow the experience.
• Poor heading structure and cluttered layouts make tasks feel slower and more confusing, even if the page technically loads.

In plain English: most older sites are like a filing cabinet stuffed with a decade of leaflets, posters and sticky notes. It’s technically all there, but it takes too long to find what you need.

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Why We Use Next.js + Edge Caching (Instead of Script-Heavy WordPress)

A Stack Designed for Speed and Stability

We build using Next.js with edge caching rather than relying on traditional script-heavy WordPress setups.

What this means for you, in non-technical terms:

• Pages are pre-built and served from data centres geographically close to your patients.
• The server does far less work at 8am because most pages are ready to go.
• Core content renders almost instantly, then any non-essential extras load quietly in the background. Compared with a typical WordPress site:

This doesn’t mean WordPress is “bad” in all cases, but for GP access-critical journeys, a modern, lean, cached-by-default stack gives you far more predictable performance.

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Our Speed Playbook and Ongoing Checks

We don’t treat speed as a one-off project. We treat it as a clinical safety and access issue that needs ongoing monitoring and maintenance.

Built for Core Web Vitals From Day One

We design and build to hit key Core Web Vitals thresholds from launch:

Core Web Vitals focus

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – how quickly the main content appears
• First Input Delay / Interaction to Next Paint (INP) – how quickly the site responds to taps and clicks
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – how stable the page is as it loads From day one, we:
• Strip out non-essential scripts and third-party trackers
• Optimise and lazy-load images
• Minimise CSS and JavaScript
• Use edge caching so pages are served from locations close to patients
• Prioritise above-the-fold content so patients see useful information first

Our promise: we optimise for Core Web Vitals from day one — and keep it that way.

Ongoing Speed and Experience Checks

Speed can drift over time as content changes. We build ongoing checks into our service: Regular monitoring

• Scheduled Core Web Vitals checks on key patient journeys (e.g. “Contact us”, “Appointments”, “Repeat prescriptions”).
• Real-user monitoring data where available to see how the site performs on real devices and networks, not just in the lab.

Change control

• We review new features, integrations and third-party scripts before they go live.
• We use performance budgets: if something new slows the site beyond agreed thresholds, we either optimise it or find another way. Accessibility and WCAG alignment
• Performance checks are aligned with accessibility best practice (NHS Design System, WCAG 2.2).
• We avoid unnecessary imagery, animations or complex components that harm both speed and accessibility.
• We ensure key journeys can be completed with keyboard and screen readers without “getting stuck” on heavy or dynamic elements.

This is not just a technical exercise; it supports NHS England’s guidance on improving online journeys, relieving phone pressure, and making access more equitable.

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Before/After: Impact Owners and Managers Actually Notice

What Practice Leaders Usually See Before

Many practice managers and partners describe similar symptoms:

• Persistent complaints: “The website is slow,” “the form crashed,” “it didn’t submit.”
• High call volumes even after introducing online access.
• Patients double-booking by form and phone “to be sure it worked.”
• Staff time spent mailing or printing forms that should be online.
• Unpredictable hosting or developer invoices when “something breaks.”

Even when the old site technically “works,” leaders feel they are paying twice: once for digital tools, again in staff time and patient frustration.

What They Notice After a Speed-Focused Rebuild

Once the site is rebuilt with speed, accessibility and patient journeys in mind, owners and managers typically report:

Operational changes they actually feel

• Fewer calls about “I can’t find the form” or “the website isn’t working.”
• Measurable reduction in simple admin calls (repeat prescriptions, change of details, basic queries).
• Reception staff spending more time solving complex issues and supporting patients who cannot use digital. Patient experience improvements
• Patients describe booking and admin as “easy” and “instant.”
• Fewer complaints about “never getting through” because the phone line is less overwhelmed.
• Better feedback in local patient surveys and Healthwatch reports regarding ease of contact via website.

Governance and assurance

• Greater confidence in complying with NHS England’s GP website guidelines and WCAG requirements.
• Reduced risk of patients abandoning online access and escalating to complaints or negative survey responses.
• A clear audit trail of changes, performance checks and improvements.

In effect, speed translates into something very tangible: calmer mornings, fewer avoidable calls, and a sense that digital is genuinely supporting, not competing with, your reception team.

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Practical Steps GP Practices Can Take Today

Even if you are not ready for a full rebuild, there are practical steps you can take to improve speed and patient experience.

Quick Wins You Can Action With Your Current Site

Focus on key journeys first

• Make sure “Contact us,” “Appointments,” “Repeat prescriptions,” and “Register as a patient” are in the main navigation and load quickly.
• Remove unnecessary images, sliders or videos from these pages.

Tidy up cruft

• Ask your current developer to review and remove unused plugins, old pop-ups, and tracking scripts you no longer use.
• Disable any visual effects (carousels, animations) that do not serve a clear clinical or operational purpose. Compress and resize images
• Replace large hero banners and stock images with smaller, optimised versions.
• Use static images instead of auto-rotating carousels where possible.

Apply NHS England’s website guidance

• Use NHS England’s GP website benchmarking and improvement tools to check your site’s usability and accessibility.
• Ensure that online consultations, admin requests and repeat prescription journeys can be found and completed in a few clear steps.

When to Consider a Modern Rebuild

You should seriously consider a Next.js + edge-cached rebuild if:

• Patients or staff regularly complain about the website being slow or unreliable.
• You are planning to expand online triage or digital-first models of care.
• You are seeing sustained demand at 8am that phones alone cannot handle.
• You lack confidence that your current site meets WCAG and NHS design standards.

A rebuild is an opportunity to design the whole experience around patient tasks and operational needs, not just aesthetics.

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Predictable Monthly Over Mystery Invoices

Why Pricing Predictability Matters for GP Practices

GP practices operate under tight budgets and scrutiny. Surprise invoices for “emergency fixes,” “overage” or ad hoc developer time make it difficult to plan and justify digital spend.

We take a different approach: Predictable monthly investment

• Clear, published pricing so you know what you’re paying for.
• Hosting, performance monitoring, support and updates bundled into a predictable monthly fee.
• No hidden charges for routine content changes or minor tweaks.

Aligned incentives

• Because we commit to keeping your Core Web Vitals healthy, it’s in our interest to prevent performance regressions before they become problems.
• You are not charged extra every time something needs optimising; performance is part of the service.

You can see our pricing – with no surprises – here: See our pricing, no surprises: https://clinicweb.uk/pricing/

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Key Takeaways

Why Speed Is Clinical for GP Practices

• Fast websites improve task completion – More patients successfully book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and submit admin requests online, first time.
• Better speed means fewer calls – As NHS guidance notes, effective online journeys reduce phone volume and relieve the 8am rush, creating more capacity for complex cases and non-digital patients.
• Modern stacks outperform legacy builds – Next.js with edge caching delivers predictable speed, especially at busy times, unlike many script-heavy WordPress setups.
• Speed and accessibility go together – Aligning with WCAG and NHS Digital Service Manual guidance improves both performance and inclusivity.
• Ongoing monitoring is essential – Performance isn’t a one-off project; it requires continuous checks and clear governance.

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Next Steps

If you are responsible for a GP practice or healthcare provider website, here are practical next steps:

1. Audit your current experience

• Time how long it takes, on a typical mobile connection, to:
  • Request an appointment
  • Order a repeat prescription
  • Register as a new patient
  • Ask reception staff what patients complain about most regarding the website.

2. Prioritise critical patient journeys

• Simplify and declutter the key access pages.
• Remove non-essential images, scripts and elements that slow or distract from core tasks.

3. Check alignment with NHS and WCAG guidance

• Use NHS England’s GP website benchmarking and improvement tools.
• Ensure that digital journeys are usable for people with disabilities, low digital confidence or poor connectivity.

4. Plan for a modern, speed-first rebuild

• If your current platform can’t realistically meet speed and accessibility standards, plan a phased migration to a faster, more maintainable stack such as Next.js with edge caching.
• Build performance, Core Web Vitals, and accessibility into your specification from the outset.

5. Move to predictable, value-based pricing

• Choose a partner that offers clear, predictable monthly costs covering hosting, speed monitoring, accessibility, and ongoing support.
• Avoid arrangements that incentivise reactive, ad hoc fixes over proactive performance management.

If you want a site where speed is clinical, Core Web Vitals are looked after from day one, and your monthly costs are predictable, you can review our options here:
See our pricing, no surprises: https://clinicweb.uk/pricing/

A faster, more accessible website is not just a technical upgrade; it is a direct improvement to how patients access your care, and how your team copes with demand.