Hundreds of general practices have been plunged into digital chaos after Silicon Practice, a major supplier of online GP services, entered administration. The sudden failure has knocked out websites, appointment booking systems and e-consultation tools for roughly 500 surgeries — just under a tenth of all practices in England — leaving patients unable to access care through the usual digital channels. Disruption has been reported in London, Gloucestershire, Norfolk and parts of Wales, forcing a rapid return to telephone queues and walk-in visits at a time when more than 40 per cent of appointments are routinely made online.
A sudden blackout for digital front doors
The collapse came without warning. Silicon Practice operated the FootFall platform, marketed as a way to cut phone traffic by 30 per cent and free reception teams from routine administration. Its client list spanned more than 1,000 practices across the UK, though the current outage centres on the 500 or so English sites that relied on its core website and booking infrastructure. NHS England confirmed that while the majority of GP websites remain unaffected, those using Silicon Practice are experiencing significant downtime. The NHS App, which sits on a separate national platform, continues to function normally.
Patients attempting to reach affected surgeries are being advised to telephone or attend in person. For many, that means navigating engaged tones and long waits — precisely the pressures digital tools were designed to ease. Practices themselves have been contacted by NHS England with business continuity guidance, but the scale of the task is daunting. Reception teams, already stretched by workforce shortages and rising demand, must now absorb a surge of calls that the FootFall system was specifically built to deflect.
Leadership warns of ‘hugely disruptive’ consequences
Prof Victoria Tzortziou Brown, president of the Royal College of GPs, did not mince words. “GP practice websites are an increasingly important way for patients to access care, book appointments and find information about the services available to them,” she said. “When websites are not working, it can be hugely disruptive for patients and place additional pressures on already stretched practice teams.”
She stressed that affected practices need prompt, practical support from NHS England and local integrated care boards to restore their digital front doors, minimise disruption and ensure patients know how to reach their surgery in the interim. The college has called for a clear timeline for remediation and for contingency funding to cover any emergency IT procurement or overtime costs incurred by practices during the outage.
Regulatory backdrop adds urgency
Since last year, every practice in England has been contractually required to offer online appointment booking. The mandate was part of a broader push to modernise primary care access and reduce the notorious “8am rush” for phone lines. Silicon Practice’s failure exposes the fragility of that strategy when a single supplier holds such a large market share. NHS England’s spokesperson acknowledged the issue, stating that teams are working with affected practices to maintain business continuity and minimise impact on patient care. No estimate has yet been given for full restoration.
What happens next for patients and practices
For now, the message is simple: if your practice website is down, call or visit. But the episode raises uncomfortable questions about resilience in a digitised NHS. Practices that migrated to Silicon Practice in good faith — often encouraged by national policy — now face the cost and complexity of switching providers mid-contract. Smaller surgeries, in particular, may lack the IT expertise to manage a rapid migration. NHS England has not yet confirmed whether central funding will be available to cover transition costs, though local commissioners are being urged to prioritise support for the worst-hit sites.
Why it Matters
This outage is more than a technical glitch; it is a stress test of the NHS’s digital ambitions. When a single vendor’s failure can silence the online front door for one in ten English practices, the system’s reliance on concentrated private infrastructure becomes a patient safety issue. The disruption falls hardest on those least able to navigate phone queues — older people, those with hearing loss, non-English speakers and anyone juggling work and caring duties. Restoring trust in digital access will require not just a fix for Silicon Practice’s clients, but a national conversation about redundancy, open standards and the true cost of resilience in primary care IT.
