A website for your physiotherapy practice, and a calmer front desk.
A good physiotherapy website does more than list treatments. Patients want to know whether they can come without a referral, what their insurance covers and when there is a slot. If the site does not answer that clearly, everyone rings the desk.
Many practices already have a waiting list, so more sign-ups is rarely the goal. What they need is fewer phone calls, a fair waiting list and cancelled slots that are filled again quickly. That is what we build websites for.
What we hear most often.
Three problems that keep coming back, in the words of the people who deal with them.
The phone rings between every treatment
“Our receptionist spends half the morning moving appointments and answering coverage questions.”
Booking, rescheduling, asking whether the supplementary insurance pays: it all comes in by phone. In a small practice the therapist answers it, in the middle of a session. Whatever patients can sort out online no longer has to go through the desk.
Cancelled slots stay empty while the waiting list grows
“Someone cancels for tomorrow, and nobody remembers who was first on the list.”
The waiting list lives in a notebook, a spreadsheet or someone’s head. Filling a late cancellation takes a string of calls, so the hour often stays empty. Meanwhile new patients wait weeks for a first appointment.
Patients do not know what to expect
“Do I need to see my GP first, and will this be covered?”
Direct access without a referral, the difference between basic and supplementary insurance, what a first appointment involves: the same questions come up every day. Add locations with different hours and therapists with different specialisms. A site that explains this in plain language saves explaining it at the desk.
Try it yourself.
A complete example website for a fictional organisation, with a visitor side and a team side.
Fysio aan de VlietPhysiotherapy with online booking and a waiting list.Fysio aan de Vliet is a fictional two-location practice in the invented town of Vlietstad. The website really works: you book an appointment, move it, and then look at the practice side, where a cancellation immediately becomes an offer to the waiting list.
As a visitor
- Book an appointment onlineChoose a location, therapist and time. Then reschedule or cancel it yourself under My appointment.
- The coverage guideShows step by step what a patient checks on their own policy, without promising amounts.
- Exercising at homeAn exercise programme the patient finds again on their phone at home, with guidance for each exercise.
New bookings appear in the agenda straight away. When someone cancels, the system suggests who on the waiting list gets the free slot; the practice confirms before anything is sent.
See the team sideRead how Fysio aan de Vliet is put together. The organisation is fictional and the photos are stock; the way it works is real.
What we check first.
Before we design anything, we go through your current website for the points that are often missed in your sector. With the source alongside.
Prices, contracts and patient payments
Under the NZa regulation TH/NR-035, every care provider informs patients about relevant prices, about any contract with their insurer (before care starts) and about payments they make themselves, and makes waiting times transparent. The regulation does not require a physiotherapy practice to publish waiting times on its website. We check whether your site makes this information easy to find and whether the desk can point to it.
BIG numbers on the team page
Physiotherapist is a protected title. According to the government, anyone who states their name in a professional capacity, including on the practice website, must make their BIG registration number public. We go through your team page. Memberships or quality marks can be shown too, but they are not the legal title.
Complaints procedure and disputes body
The Wkkgz asks for an accessible complaints procedure, a written response within six weeks (extendable by at most four) and membership of a disputes body. Patients must be told about this in a suitable way. A findable web page is the most common way to do that; we check whether yours exists and whether the contact route is right.
What the booking form asks for
A free-text field for the reason for the visit invites medical details. Health data is special-category data under the GDPR, and whoever processes the form or the email needs a data processing agreement. We look at which fields are really needed and where the data ends up.
This is an explanation, not legal advice. Whether a rule applies to your organisation depends on what you provide and how it is funded; we check that together.
How we go about it.
Start small, measure, and only then expand. The same four steps as in your plan.
Introduction
25 minutes with Sharif. You tell us what keeps the desk busiest and how the waiting list works today, and we look at your current site on a phone together.
Working session and baseline
We spend a morning at the desk or in the agenda. Together we choose one measure, such as the number of calls about appointments or the hours left empty after a cancellation.
Prototype
A working version of the booking route or the waiting list, with fictional patients and times. Nothing is connected to your EPD or agenda yet.
Test and decide
Therapists and the desk try it out. With the agreed measure in hand, you decide whether we stop, adjust or build further, possibly with a connection.
Questions we often get.
Does this work alongside our EPD’s online booking?
Often, yes. If your EPD has its own booking module, we build the website around it and send patients to that link with the right explanation. A real connection is only possible when the system allows it and your practice grants access. We find that out first.
We are a small, single-location practice. Is this too much?
The example shows a lot at once. For a small practice we start with one part, such as a clear page on coverage and referrals, or a simple waiting-list route. If it does not help, we do not build it.
Why are there no prices?
Because the scope differs for every organisation. After an introduction you receive a written quote, and nothing is invoiced until you have agreed to it.
Further reading.
Practical guides to the rules above, with sources. The guides are in Dutch.
Websites for other sectors.
Each sector has its own example and its own points to check.
- Websites for home care and community nursingFor home-care organisations and community nursing
- Websites for day care and care farmsFor day care, meeting centres and care farms
- Websites for mental health and psychology practicesFor independent psychologists, psychotherapists and group practices in mental health care
- Website for a dental practice: honest access and clear pricesFor dental practices, dental hygienists and oral care centres
- Website for maternity care: registration, planning and recruitmentFor maternity care organisations and agencies