Overview
- A UK healthcare supplier, Schappit Ltd trading as Silicon Practice, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators earlier this month and has now ceased trading, which has left a subset of GP websites offline.
- Some surgeries in Norfolk, Gloucestershire, London and parts of Wales have reported ‘502 Bad Gateway’ errors or sudden takedowns and expect their sites to be down for several weeks while they arrange replacements.
- NHS England and affected practices are advising patients to contact surgeries by telephone or in person and to use the NHS App for repeat prescriptions and fit-note requests where that remains available.
- Clinicians and trade press warn that removing online booking and information pages will put extra strain on already stretched reception phone lines and staff, and it is not yet clear whether back-end booking or clinical systems are also affected.
- Silicon Practice says it supports more than 1,000 GP sites with tools such as the FootFall dashboard and the disruption highlights how primary care has moved routine admin and appointments online, increasing reliance on third-party providers.