Data sources
London GP Directory uses only open, publicly-available data. Every record on the site originates from one of the four sources below. We don't buy data, accept paid listings, or include private/proprietary databases.
Primary sources
1. NHS Organisation Data Service (ODS) FHIR API
The authoritative register of every NHS-contracted GP practice in England. Provides practice names, addresses, postcodes, phone numbers, ODS codes and active status.
Endpoint: directory.spineservices.nhs.uk
What we use it for: NHS GP practice listings — names, addresses, phone numbers, ODS codes.
2. Care Quality Commission (CQC) Public API
The CQC is England's independent healthcare regulator. Their public API exposes every CQC-registered healthcare location and provider in England, with inspection ratings and service-type classifications.
Endpoint: api.service.cqc.org.uk
Developer portal: api-portal.service.cqc.org.uk
What we use it for: Private clinic listings, CQC ratings (Outstanding / Good / Requires improvement / Inadequate), NHS services beyond GPs, and cross-referencing for NHS GP practices.
3. NHS GP Patient Survey
NHS England's annual patient survey, measuring patient experience at every GP practice in the country. We use two top-line scores per practice: overall satisfaction (% who rate the practice good or very good) and ease of contacting the practice.
Source: gp-patient.co.uk
What we use it for: Patient satisfaction percentages on every NHS GP card.
4. ONS Postcode Directory (via postcodes.io)
The Office for National Statistics maintains the authoritative postcode-to-administrative-area mapping for the UK. We use postcodes.io as a free, public proxy for this data.
Endpoint: postcodes.io
What we use it for: Assigning every practice to its correct London borough based on postcode.
Things we don't use
We've deliberately excluded:
- Marketing databases. No paid lead-generation or directory sites.
- Scraped review sites. Google reviews, Trustpilot etc. carry too much noise and gaming. We only show CQC's independent inspection ratings.
- Self-reported data. Practices can't add themselves or edit their entries directly. Updates flow from CQC and NHS ODS.
- Tracking cookies and analytics. The site loads no third-party scripts and sets no cookies.
Why this matters
Every fact on this site can be traced back to one of the four sources above. If a CQC rating is wrong, it's wrong at CQC — we display whatever they publish via their API. If a phone number is out of date, it's because NHS ODS hasn't updated yet — we don't override the official register. This makes the data trustworthy: it's the same data NHS.uk and CQC's own website use.
Future sources under evaluation
We are exploring whether to integrate additional sources for richer data:
- NHS Service Search API — would enrich GP practice metadata (catchment areas, languages spoken, opening hours). Currently pending approval from NHS Digital.
- PHIN (Private Healthcare Information Network) — covers individual private consultants. Their API is not open, so we'd need to apply for partner access.
- GMC Specialist Register — per-consultant registration data. Worth integrating if PHIN coverage isn't sufficient.
Technical detail
For exact field paths, refresh cadence and data flow, see Methodology. All build scripts are published on GitHub.