How to get your first patients as a new private GP

The rules come first

Marketing a medical service has limits that most businesses don’t face:

• GMC standards. Good medical practice (2024) requires everything you communicate as a doctor to be accurate and not misleading. When you advertise your services, you must declare conflicts of interest and must not exploit people’s vulnerability or lack of medical knowledge.
• The CAP Code. Health claims need evidence. Prescription-only medicines and treatments cannot be advertised to the public, and the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 ban adverts likely to lead to their use. So no naming weight-loss injections in adverts.
• Reviews. Since April 2025, fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews have been banned outright, and suppressing genuine negative reviews can also break the law.
• Email and texts. Marketing messages need consent, or the soft opt-in for existing patients, with an easy way to opt out.
• Your NHS role. If you also work as an NHS GP, don’t approach your own NHS patients. In England, an NHS practice cannot promote private services through the channels it uses for NHS services. GP contracts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, so check yours. See restrictions on seeing private patients.

For the detail, see the rules on advertising.

Be easy to find before you open

Most private GP patients start with a search on their phone. Before opening day:

1. Google Business Profile. A profile is for a business that patients can contact at its verified location during its stated hours. Use your real practice name, with no extra keywords. If you work alone, Google’s rules allow one profile named in the form “Practice name: Dr Name”. If several doctors work at one site, the practice has its own profile and each doctor can have a profile in their own name.
2. A website that answers the booking question. Show services, prices, opening times, location and parking, your GMC number and regulator registration, and an online booking link. Keep it fast on a phone. See building your website. Keep your name, address and phone number the same everywhere they appear online.
3. Directories and marketplaces. Patients also search sites that list several private GPs. A good example is Quokka Health, a marketplace where patients compare named clinicians on price and real appointment availability, then book and pay online. It checks clinicians’ professional registration, and reviews come only from patients who booked. For a simpler listing, Find A Private GP is a patient-facing directory where people search by service and location. Listing was free at the time of review. Review platforms such as Doctify also list private GP practices with patient reviews. Before you sign up anywhere, check what the listing costs, whether it takes a commission, and whether it links to your own booking page.

Work where patients already go

The quickest way to fill sessions is to work where patients already book. Sessional work for an established provider, or practising privileges at a private hospital or clinic, gives you its bookings and marketing while you build your own name. Ask to appear on the clinic’s “find a doctor” page.

Build referral relationships

Early bookings often come from other professionals who trust you:

• Private consultants and clinics who need a GP for patients without one, or for follow-up. See finding local private clinicians.
• Physiotherapists, osteopaths and counsellors whose clients need a medical opinion or a prescription.
• Community pharmacies, which see people who can’t get a GP appointment soon enough.
• Other private GPs, who may pass on patients when they are full or away.

Introduce yourself, explain what you offer and how quickly patients can be seen, and make referring easy. Refer back when it is right for the patient. Keep referral arrangements clean. The GMC says you must not offer, ask for or accept any fee, gift or hospitality that may affect, or be seen to affect, how you refer. Refer on clinical merit, and declare any financial interest to patients.

Local employers

Small and medium employers, schools, sports clubs and professional firms often want quick GP access, health checks or travel vaccinations for their people. One contract can bring a steady flow of patients. HMRC treats one health screening and one medical check-up a year for each employee as exempt from benefit-in-kind tax. That makes an annual health check an easy first product to offer. Agree scope, invoicing and confidentiality in writing. The employer usually receives attendance and fitness outcomes, not clinical details. Some of this work, such as pre-employment medicals, is standard-rated for VAT. See insurer and employer billing and VAT for private GPs.

Paid search, with care

Paid search can fill gaps once the basics are in place. Google restricts ads for prescription drug services and telemedicine, and you still cannot promote prescription-only medicines. Check Google’s healthcare policy before you start, set a small monthly budget, and track bookings rather than clicks.

Reviews and word of mouth

Word of mouth grows from good care and easy admin: appointments that run to time, clear results and a prompt letter to the NHS GP. After each appointment, ask every patient for honest feedback, not only the happy ones. When you reply to a review, don’t confirm that the person is a patient or mention any clinical detail. See getting patient feedback.

Turn first patients into regular patients

A new practice grows faster by keeping patients than by constantly finding new ones. The basics matter most:

• Follow up. Book the review or results call before the patient leaves, and send results with a clear next step.
• Recalls. Set recalls for blood pressure checks, medication reviews, annual health checks and vaccine boosters, and send reminders with a booking link.
• Consistency. Patients who choose a private GP often value seeing the same doctor. Publish your regular sessions so they can plan around them.
• The NHS GP letter. A prompt, useful letter to the patient’s NHS GP builds trust with the patient and with local practices. See sending notes to the NHS GP.

Marketing messages to existing patients still need their consent or the soft opt-in. Clinical reminders about their own care are different, but keep the two separate.

A first-90-days plan

When	Focus
Before opening	Google Business Profile verified. Website with prices and booking live. Directory and marketplace listings set up. Referral partners contacted.
Weeks 1 to 4	Ask every patient how they found you, at booking or on your registration form, and record it. Send letters to NHS GPs promptly. Request feedback after each appointment.
Weeks 5 to 8	Follow up referral partners with a short update. Approach a few local employers. Review which channels brought bookings.
Weeks 9 to 12	Look at which channels bring patients who book, return and recommend you. Put more time and money into the two that bring the most, and drop what does not work. Test a small paid-search budget if search demand exists. Add recalls for patients who need follow-up.

Be realistic

Bookings usually build over months, not weeks. Plan your cash for a slow start, start with a number of sessions you can fill, and work out how many patients you need with the break-even sum. For the ongoing strategy, see building a marketing strategy.