We recently undertook a project on behalf of a client to update the records of around 60 of their consultants. What we discovered was genuinely surprising, we could not believe just how poor the information available online for many of the consultants was.

We looked at a number of 3rd party platforms for each individual and the amount of information that was out of date, conflicting with each other or just plain wrong was actually quite shocking.

I’ve posted before on the importance of making sure your records on 3rd party sites (hospitals, insurance company, associations, review sites, etc…) are up to date and accurate.

Patients are increasingly looking online to educate themselves on their condition and treatment options. They also want to know who can help them. Patients are aware that they have the choice.

The quality and professionalism of your presence online does affect who a patient will choose and if it’s hard to contact you or information on you is limited, they will likely go elsewhere.

The data below is from 62 consultants on BUPA Finder, this is no fault of BUPA and no reflection on their excellent platform. We just used this as it is typically one of the better updated platforms and one that has particularly good visibility online.

• 4 had broken websites
• 7 had unsecure websites
• 7 had their own websites but still linked away to a hospital/3rd party sites
• 13 had the wrong contact name
• 8 had wrong contact email
• 3 had telephone numbers not in service
• 7 had telephone numbers to clinics/locations/secretaries no longer in use 
• 3 had no contact info at all
• 15 had a contact number or email to a general hospital/clinic reception contact email
• 7 had no picture
• 12 had a poor quality picture

Roughly speaking a third of the profiles we looked at had serious failings. Only 13 had what we would consider a “good online presence”.

3rd party platforms such as; BUPA Finder, I Want Great Care, TrustPilot and your hospital/clinic directories are free to use, attract a lot of patient traffic and are a source of referrals but it is your responsibility to manage them.

A small investment of time once or twice a year to maintain and update the information about you online will have a positive effect on engagement with patients.

Don’t want to do it yourself?

At Phast Media we do offer a service to tidy up and improve your online records, please get in touch to find out more.