How to switch from MySurgeryWebsite.
It’s easier than you think. We do the heavy lifting; you sign one email and approve the result. Six steps, around three hours of your time, site built in under two weeks.
Run both sites in parallel until MSW expires.
Mid-term with MSW? No problem. You run the old site until its contract expires; we run the new one from day one in parallel. We don’t charge you for our site until cut-over day, so there’s no overlap, no rush, no double-payment hangover.
The six steps
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1. See the demo (week 0)
Open our live customer demo — it’s a real working NHS GP site, with the chatbot, Welsh-language switcher, online services, the lot. Pricing is on it: £399 first year, no contract, site built in under two weeks. If it looks right, click the “Build mine” button on the page. If you’d rather a written compliance audit of your current site first, message us via the widget and we’ll send one inside a working day.
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2. Check your MSW notice period (week 0)
Find your latest MSW renewal letter. The contract terms will say something like “90 days’ notice before renewal” or “rolling 12-month auto-renew with 30 days notice”. Don’t panic if you’ve already missed the window for this year — you can still switch; we’ll just parallel-run until your MSW year ends.
If you can’t find your contract, MSW are obliged to send you a copy on request — we have a template for that email below.
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3. Sign up with us (week 1)
10-minute onboarding wizard at /onboarding. Direct Debit via GoCardless — standard NHS-supplier collection method, no card details, no platform lock-in. Your first year is £399 flat, no setup fee, and the price is locked for 60 months from that day.
If your MSW contract has remaining months, tell us in the wizard’s “why are you switching” field and we’ll only start your billing from MSW cut-over, not from sign-up day. Pure overlap, no double-payment.
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4. We build your draft site (week 1)
Within the first week, we lift your existing content from MSW, restructure it for the new templates, and build your draft. Our clinical team — working NHS GPs, with nurse and pharmacist reviewers on specialist pages — signs off every patient-facing page before you see it.
Anything we got wrong — you tell us in plain English. We don’t need you to learn a CMS to point things out.
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5. Tell MSW you’re leaving (week 2)
Use the template email below. Send it to MSW (BCC us — we can help with anything they push back on).
Subject: Contract non-renewal notice — [Practice name], [NHS practice code]
To: support@mysurgerywebsite.co.uk (verify against your most recent invoice)
Dear MySurgeryWebsite team,
This is formal notice that [Practice name] does not wish to renew our website contract at the end of the current term. Our current annual term ends on [date].
Per our contract clause [paste reference if known, or just “the notice period clause”], we are giving you the required [30 / 60 / 90] days’ written notice.
Please confirm in writing:
- The contract end date you are now working to.
- That no further charges will be raised after that date.
- The process for exporting our current site content for our records.
We will manage the DNS cut-over to our new provider ourselves and require no action from you on that.
Thank you,
[Your name], [Your role]
[Practice name]
[NHS practice code]
[Phone] / [Email] -
6. DNS cut-over (end of week 2)
Once your MSW contract ends, we update your domain’s DNS settings to point at the Practice Digital site. Takes minutes. We do this; you approve.
We also update:
- NHS Choices entry — your practice profile
- Google Business Profile — website link
- PCN intranet (if applicable)
- Anywhere else your site is linked from
You don’t lose a single patient visit. Search engines pick up the new site within 48 hours of cut-over.
The cost — over five years
MySurgeryWebsite typically charges £2,000–£4,000 per year depending on tier and practice list size, with annual uplifts written into the contract. Practice Digital is £399 per year flat, locked for five years. Here is the five-year cost picture, using midpoint numbers and a conservative 4% annual MSW uplift.
| Year | MySurgeryWebsite (typical mid-tier, 4% uplift) | Practice Digital (locked) | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | £3,000 | £399 | £2,601 |
| Year 2 | £3,120 | £399 | £2,721 |
| Year 3 | £3,245 | £399 | £2,846 |
| Year 4 | £3,375 | £399 | £2,976 |
| Year 5 | £3,510 | £399 | £3,111 |
| 5-year total | £16,250 | £1,995 | £14,255 |
Numbers are indicative. MSW tiers and uplift terms vary by contract; check your most recent renewal letter for your actual baseline. Practice Digital’s £399/year is contractually locked for 60 months from your start date — no CPI uplift, no annual adjustment. See full Practice Digital pricing →
What to check in your current MSW contract
Before sending notice, find your most recent MSW invoice or renewal letter and look for these clauses. If you can’t find your contract, MSW are legally obliged to send you a copy on written request.
If anything in your contract concerns you, email info@practicedigital.co.uk with the relevant section attached. We’ll read it within a working day and tell you exactly what it means and what to do.
Frequently asked questions
Will we have any downtime?
No. The new site runs at a temporary URL during build (e.g. parkhouse.pages.dev). On cut-over day, DNS swaps and the old site stops serving in the same instant. Patients see no gap.
What happens to our patient information / blog content?
We lift it all across as part of the build. You sign off the result. If we miss anything, you flag it before cut-over and we add it.
What if MSW pushes back?
BCC us on your notice email. We’ve seen the playbook. Common pushback — “your contract auto-renewed”, “there’s an early-termination fee”. Most of it doesn’t survive a careful read of their terms. Worst case, you continue paying MSW until natural contract end while we run the new site for free in parallel.
What about eConsult / AccuRx / SystmOnline integrations?
All carry across. They live on the supplier side, not the website side — we just embed the same redirect/widget on the new site. No work for you, no patient confusion.
What if we hate the new site?
You have 14 calendar days from mandate activation to walk away with a full refund. After that, you have the contractual 12-month commitment but we’ve never had a customer regret the switch — partly because we let you preview and sign-off before any of it goes live.
Can our partners / practice manager / IT lead see it first?
Yes — share our live demo with them. It’s a real, fully working NHS GP site — chatbot, Welsh, the lot. If they have questions, the chatbot on that page answers most of them, or use the message widget on this page and we’ll reply by email. No salesperson. No pressure.
Will we lose our SEO ranking after switching?
No, if the cut-over is done properly. Your domain stays the same (e.g. yoursurgery.nhs.uk), so all existing inbound links carry through. URL paths are mapped 1:1 where possible and 301-redirected where not. We rebuild your structured data (LocalBusiness, MedicalBusiness, FAQPage schema) to a higher standard than MSW typically provides — in practice, most practices see a small increase in organic visibility within 2–4 weeks of cut-over, not a drop.
What about our NHS App / GP Online Services / Patient Access links?
All preserved. NHS App registration, GP Online Services (Patient Access, SystmOnline, EMIS Web), eConsult, AccuRx, Patchs, Klinik — they live on the supplier side, not the website side. The new site simply embeds the same redirect or widget. From the patient’s perspective, nothing changes.
Are Practice Digital websites NHS England benchmarking compliant?
Yes. Every Practice Digital NHS GP site is built to pass the NHS England primary care website benchmarking framework: Named Accountable GP statement, online services signposting, complaints procedure with ICB and Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman escalation, accessibility statement, privacy notice, Friends and Family Test results display, and the rest. We can provide a benchmarking checklist showing exactly which boxes your new site ticks.
What accessibility standard do you meet?
WCAG 2.2 AA — the current PSBAR 2018 assessment standard (since 1 October 2024). Many existing NHS GP website providers, including MSW, still cite WCAG 2.1 AA, which is the previous standard. Practice Digital sites are audited against 2.2 AA before going live, and the accessibility statement is published in the format the GDS model template specifies.
What if our practice is in Wales?
Welsh-language content is built in as standard, not as a paid add-on. Every Practice Digital site can be served bilingually via a one-click toggle. The site is HIW-aware (Healthcare Inspectorate Wales) rather than CQC-only, and signposts the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales for complaints rather than the English Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman. See our Cymraeg GP website page for the Welsh-specific detail.
How does Practice Digital handle Friends and Family Test results?
The current month’s FFT results can be displayed automatically on a dedicated page with the standard NHS-required disclaimer. Submission to the FFT itself happens through your existing supplier (typically iPLATO, AccuRx FFT module, or paper) — we don’t replace the submission tool, just the display layer.
What clinical systems do you integrate with?
EMIS Web, TPP SystmOne and Vision/Cegedim — via signposting and embedded widgets (NHS App, Patient Access, SystmOnline). Direct GP Connect integration is on the 2026–27 roadmap. For Welsh practices migrating from Vision to EMIS Web per DHCW’s 2026 programme, no Practice Digital change is required — the website operates independently of the underlying clinical system.
Ready when you are.
Most of our customers say the same thing afterwards: “that was much less painful than I expected.”
Read before you switch
- Practice Digital vs MySurgeryWebsite — the side-by-side, including the renewal-price trap.
- How to switch GP surgery website providers without disrupting patients — deeper guide.
- What the NHS England benchmarking tool checks — how your new site should score.
- Pricing — £399/yr flat for GP surgeries, locked for 60 months from your start date.