When GP practices hear about rapid list growth, the reaction is usually sceptical.
Is it allowed?
Won’t access collapse?
Doesn’t it just create complaints, QOF problems, and burnt-out staff?
Those were exactly the questions we explored when we spoke with Patrick Rogan, Director at East Berkshire Primary Care Out of Hours, who run Chapel Medical Centre in Slough.
In 2017, when Patrick & his team took over the practice, the list sat at just over 7,000 patients. Today, it is over 16,500. At peak, the practice was registering up to 100 patients a week.
What makes this worth examining is not just the scale of the growth, but the fact that it happened without access falling apart, in a highly transient population, and within geographic rules.
Patient communications, and where the practice chose to be visible, were central to that outcome.
Visibility where patients were already looking
Patrick described an early realisation: patients don’t discover GP practices through formal NHS channels. They search Google, read reviews, and look for signals that a practice is open, responsive, and understandable.
Chapel treated Google Business Profile as a primary front door. The effect is clear in their data:
- Thousands of monthly searches for terms such as “GP Slough” and “GP near me”
- The majority of discovery happening via Google Search and Google Maps on mobile
- Over 10,000 calls generated directly from Google in a six-month period
- Consistent presence in the top three local results, where most patient choice is made
These weren’t casual searches – people were actively looking to register. Being visible at that moment mattered.
Patrick explained that this visibility was maintained through regular posts, photos, and updates, alongside active review management. Reviews weren’t left to sit unanswered. Each one was treated as another opportunity to explain how the practice worked and what patients could expect.
One practical example he highlighted was a short video tour of the practice, showing the building and reception area. His view was that many patients feel anxious about attending somewhere new, and seeing the environment in advance removed a surprising amount of hesitation
Social media reinforced, rather than replaced, reality
Alongside Google, the practice used small, tightly targeted Facebook campaigns, restricted to Slough.
The content focused on access, patient feedback, and clarity around registration, rather than promotion.
The point he made was simple: social media only worked because it reflected what patients actually experienced. When posts talked about responsiveness or triage, patients encountered the same thing when they contacted the practice.
As visibility increased, registrations followed.
Boundaries were clear, and stayed clear
Chapel serves a population with high turnover, including short-term residents and asylum seekers. Eligibility was not flexible.
Patrick explained that catchment rules were communicated clearly wherever patients encountered the practice, including Google and social channels. Patients outside the boundary were not registered.
He also described de-registration as routine operational work. Over the last three years, around 13,000 patients were removed from the list as people moved out of area. In a place like Slough, that level of churn was expected and planned for.
This mattered because increased visibility did not lead to uncontrolled growth.
Access was deliberately redesigned
Increased visibility brought demand. That demand only worked because access behaved differently.
Patrick described one rule that was applied consistently by the admin team: patients were not told to call back the next day. Instead, If face-to-face appointments were unavailable, patients were directed to eConsult and triaged promptly. The intention was to avoid deferring demand and creating repeat calls.
He described a noticeable shift in patient behaviour as a result. Fewer people kept ringing. Fewer complaints were triggered. Patients felt they were being dealt with, even when capacity was tight.
Operations made the communications credible
None of this would have held without changes behind the scenes.
50:50 split between home-based admin & triage, and in-practice sessions, creating protected time for triage, results, and follow-up. This prevented eConsult from becoming hidden overtime.
At the same time, every newly registered eligible patient received a structured health check, led by nurses. Patrick described this as a deliberate way of avoiding unknown risk building up later.
It helped surface unmet need early, supported QOF activity, and set expectations for how the practice worked.
Growth was absorbed because the system was designed to absorb it.
When performance was visible, patients amplified it
As access and responsiveness became consistent, patients began to talk.
Patrick noted improvements in reviews, mentions in local Facebook groups, and increased visibility on Mumsnet. This wasn’t driven by campaigns. It followed from patients recognising that what they saw online matched what they experienced when they made contact.
In his view, the practice wasn’t competing on messaging. It was competing on experience, and communications made that experience visible.
What this shows
Chapel’s growth was not accidental, and it wasn’t driven by advertising alone. List size increased because:
- patients could easily find the practice at the point of search
- communications explained access clearly and consistently
- Google visibility captured high-intent demand
- and the operating model was built to cope with it
Social media and Google Business Profile didn’t replace good access. They made it visible. Once that happened, growth followed.
Want support?
Chapel Medical Centre uses Redmoor’s Social Media Managed Service, which includes Google Managed Business profile support. If you want help improving visibility through social media and Google, and making sure the systems behind it can cope with increased demand, speak to Redmoor about how we can help.
