The short answer
Medical website design should make billing, opening hours, new patient status and booking obvious on every page. It needs practitioner profiles, a booking integration such as HotDoc, HealthEngine or Cliniko, accessible design for patients of all ages, and copy that follows AHPRA advertising rules, including the ban on clinical testimonials.
A GP clinic, a specialist rooms and a physio practice all have different patients, but their websites fail in the same way: the answers patients need sit inside a PDF, a booking widget or a phone call. We design clinic websites so the practical information is on the page, in plain text, and booking takes as few taps as possible.
What patients need to find straight away
- Billing. Who you bulk bill, your private fees and gap, and what happens with Medicare rebates. Vague billing statements cause more phone calls than any other page.
- New patients. Whether each doctor is accepting new patients, kept up to date.
- Hours and access. Opening hours, after-hours arrangements, walk-in policy, telehealth, parking and wheelchair access.
- Services. Skin checks, women's health, chronic disease care, immunisations, procedures and the allied health services in the building.
For specialist practices the priorities shift. Patients usually arrive with a referral, so the site should explain how to book with a referral, what to bring, expected fees and gaps, hospital affiliations and where each consulting suite is. GPs also visit specialist sites, so a clear referral page with fax, secure messaging and email details saves your staff time.
Practitioner profiles
Patients choose a doctor as much as a clinic. Each practitioner gets a profile with a professional photo, qualifications, areas of interest, languages spoken, the days they consult and a direct booking link. Many patients look for a doctor of a particular gender or one who speaks their language, so we make that easy to filter on larger clinics.
Booking systems we design around
Most Australian GP clinics take online bookings through HotDoc or HealthEngine. We link or embed your booking platform rather than replacing it, put a booking button in the header of every page, and give each practitioner profile a deep link where the platform supports one. Booking widgets often load in a frame that search engines cannot read, so we repeat the important details (doctors, services, hours) as text on your own pages.
Physio website design
Physio and allied health practices have a different booking pattern. Most people book themselves without a referral, often after searching a symptom, and they want to know what an initial consultation involves, how long it runs and what it costs. Many allied health practices run Cliniko, Nookal or Halaxy, which all offer online booking that can be embedded in a website or linked from it.
A physio website we design usually includes:
- An appointment types page showing initial and standard consultations, prices and the private health rebate process, including on-the-spot claiming if you offer it.
- Pages for the funding pathways you accept, such as WorkCover, CTP, NDIS, DVA and GP referrals under Medicare, each explaining what the patient needs to bring.
- Condition and service pages (back pain, sports injuries, post-surgery rehab, clinical Pilates, dry needling) with booking at the end.
- Practitioner profiles listing the areas each physio focuses on.
The same approach suits podiatrists, psychologists, exercise physiologists, dietitians and other allied health practices. Search strategy for physios is covered on our SEO for physiotherapists page.
Advertising rules for health websites
Medical, physio and many other allied health professions are regulated under the National Law, so a practice website is advertising under section 133. The points that affect design most:
- Testimonials about clinical aspects of care cannot be used. That rules out patient story sliders and review widgets that copy clinical reviews onto your site.
- Offers and discounts must show their terms and conditions.
- Claims must not create unreasonable expectations of benefit, and specialist titles are protected.
- Prescription-only medicines generally cannot be advertised to the public under the Therapeutic Goods Act, so service pages describe the consultation, not the medicine.
Some allied health professions, such as dietetics, are self-regulated rather than registered under AHPRA, but they still fall under Australian Consumer Law. Your practice is responsible for its advertising, so a principal should approve the copy against AHPRA's advertising guidance before launch. Our SEO for medical clinics page covers these rules in more depth.
Accessibility and privacy
Clinic websites are used by older patients, carers and people with disability more than most sites, and the Disability Discrimination Act applies to websites. We design to WCAG 2.2 AA in mind: large readable text, strong contrast, clear focus states, forms that work with a keyboard and screen readers, and no information locked inside images.
Health service providers are covered by the Privacy Act regardless of turnover. Contact forms should not collect symptoms or medical history, and anything clinical should go through your practice software or secure messaging. We keep forms short and host sites on our own managed server.
How we work with clinics
We start with a free 45-minute discovery call with Amann Jhamb, our director and consultant, then send a written fixed-price quote. Most five page brochure sites we build land between $900 and $2,500; a multi-practitioner clinic site is quoted on its scope. A typical small business site takes 1 to 2 weeks once content is ready, and website care starts from $249 a month. Our team works in-house from Pallara. See web design in Brisbane or book a call.