Thousands of patients unable to access GPs online after collapse of tech firm

Thousands of patients have been unable to access their GP surgery online after a tech firm collapsed into administration.

The loss of Silicon Practice means some services, such as entire websites, online consultations and chatbots, are no longer running.

Patients are being urged to call their GP practice or attend in person if they cannot access services online.

According to the NHS, fewer than 10% of the around 6,000 practices in England are affected.

Affected practices have been contacted by NHS England with advice on how to minimise the impact on patient care (PA)

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One of those is Rowcroft Medical Centre in Stroud, whose website is down.

It posted advice for patients on its Facebook page on Wednesday saying it “received information late on Friday October 24 that the company who run GP websites across the county has gone into administration and ceased trading”.

It added: “Please be assured that appointments, telephone calls, emails, the NHS app and our Facebook page remain unaffected and will continue as normal.

“However, if you have submitted an online form in the last four hours and not had a response, please call our patient advisers.”

Swansea Bay University Health Board said it knew of three practice websites that had ceased to operate, while the West and North London Integrated Care Board said practices using Silicon’s services “are advised to inform patients that they will not have access to online consultation requests and provide alternate approaches to contact the practice for clinical support until an alternative online consultation provider is in place”.

An NHS England spokesperson said: “While the majority of GP practice websites are running as normal, some practices which use Silicon Practice will be affected by the company going into administration.

“If your GP practice website is unavailable and you need help, you should contact your practice by phone or in person as usual.”

Affected practices have been contacted by NHS England with advice on how to maintain business continuity and minimise the impact on patient care.

Silicon Practice ran the digital tool FootFall, which it advertised as reducing patient phone calls to practices by 30%.

It said FootFall worked to “free your reception team from routine admin and manage demand more efficiently. Proven in 1,000+ GP practices across the UK”.