Going Private: Guides for UK Practitioners

Going private? Let's make sure the right patients can find you.

The clinical side is what you trained for. Getting found online is a different problem, and it tends to get left until last. These guides cover the practical steps for each discipline: what you need in place before your first private patient, how to set up online, and how people actually find a private practitioner.

Free to read, nothing gated, no email required.

You have made the decision. The digital side still needs sorting.

Most practitioners going private focus on the clinical setup first: indemnity insurance, a room, rates. Getting found online waits until later, and later tends to arrive with an empty diary attached.

You are ready to see private patients, but there is no website yet, or the one you have does not reflect what you actually do

You are not showing up when people search for your specialty in your area, even though you know the demand is there

Word of mouth is a decent start, but you would like something steadier

You have looked at agencies and the quotes were out of proportion to where you are right now

You are not sure what to do first, or what would genuinely make a difference to enquiries

Physiotherapists

HCPC registration, clinic room hire, self-referrals, local SEO and getting your first private patients. Read the physiotherapy guide →

Speech & language therapists

Waiting list context, paediatric versus adult work, RCSLT directories, EHCP reports and location pages. Read the speech therapy guide →

Occupational therapists

EHCP reports, autism and ADHD assessment demand, DBS checks and SEND referral routes. Read the OT guide →

Psychologists & therapists

HCPC, BACP and UKCP requirements, directory profiles, ethical marketing and the testimonial question. Read the therapy guide →

Nutritionists & dietitians

Protected titles, AfN and HCPC registration, health claims in marketing, and condition-specific search. Read the nutrition guide →

Another discipline?

The specifics differ but the shape does not: registration, insurance, a clear website, a Google Business Profile, the right directories, and reviews. Email us and we will point you at what applies to your field.

Five things that apply whatever you practise

Your own indemnity insurance. An employer's cover does not extend to your private patients, in any discipline.

A Google Business Profile. Free, quick, and usually the single biggest early difference to being found locally. Use a service area if you do not want to publish an address.

Specificity beats breadth. "I help with everything" ranks for nothing and reassures nobody. Name the people you help and the problems you treat.

Your professional directory listing. These sites already rank well and often appear above individual practitioner websites.

Reviews, collected steadily. A handful of genuine recent reviews will move you further in local results than almost anything else you can do in month one.

All of this is doable on your own

Plenty of practitioners work through these guides and never speak to us, which is fine and rather the point. If you would rather not build the website yourself, that is one of the things we do, priced as a one-off project rather than a retainer because that is what suits someone starting out.

Being straight about the fit: our ongoing marketing work is with established clinics that have a team. If you are a sole practitioner in your first year, we are probably not the right people for a monthly retainer yet, and we would say so on a call rather than take it. A website and a sensible setup is a different matter.