Hundreds of NHS GP Websites Go Offline After Website Provider Runs Into Financial Trouble

Hundreds of GP surgery websites across England and Wales have been taken offline or disrupted after Schappit Ltd, which trades as Silicon Practice, entered administration. The Leicestershire-based parent company filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators in October 2026 through law firm Wilkes Partnership.

Unaudited accounts showed net liabilities of £2.67 million as of June 2025. Silicon Practice, which had worked with the NHS since 2005, claimed to host around 1,000 GP practice websites.

Surgeries Hit by Sudden Shutdown

Practices received little or no warning before their websites and online services were shut down or deleted. The disruption has affected website hosting, the FootFall online consultation platform and virtual assistant chatbots. Some affected websites have returned a '502 Bad Gateway' error, while others have been taken down completely.

Disruption has been confirmed in London, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Derby, Hertfordshire and Wales. Affected surgeries include Southgate Surgery in London, Painswick Surgery, Willow Tree Practice and Chipping Surgery in Gloucestershire, and West Pottergate Medical Practice, Parish Fields Practice and Watton Medical Practice in Norfolk.

Horizon Healthcare in Derby and the Mount, Castle and Victoria Gardens surgeries in Swansea Bay have also been affected.

Several practices have warned that online forms submitted shortly before the outage may not have reached clinical staff. Horizon Healthcare issued similar guidance on 25 October, warning that requests submitted through its old website forms might not have been received.

Patients needing urgent care when their GP is unavailable have been directed to NHS 111. Those facing a life-threatening emergency should call 999.

Lost Online Services Add to Staff Workload

The outages have created additional administrative pressure for GP practices, where online forms and chatbots handle a substantial share of patient contact. With those services unavailable, more enquiries are returning to telephone lines and front desks.

One GP commenting on the disruption said their practice's replacement system, which uses front-of-house triage, was working better than the previous software.

NHS England and regional Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have advised patients at affected practices to make contact by telephone or in person. Willow Tree Practice said access through the NHS App and SystmOnline remained unaffected.

Practices have also directed patients to use surgery voicemail or general practice email addresses for prescription and fit note requests. Swansea Bay University Health Board and its surgeries issued similar instructions, warning that website services could stop with little or no notice.

NHS England and local ICBs are working with affected practices to find replacement websites and online consultation providers. The West and North London ICB has issued continuity guidance and established a dedicated digital support email address to help surgeries introduce temporary triage arrangements.

GP Questions Reliance on Private Providers

The disruption has prompted one GP to argue that core website hosting and triage platforms should be nationalised. The GP argued that the disruption highlighted the risks of relying on private providers for essential digital services, including concerns about continuity of care and patient safety.

The incident has raised questions about national contingency arrangements for GP practice websites. Health bodies are now helping affected surgeries find alternative providers while they work to maintain patient access to essential services.