Medical Council Gets 20,000 Monthly Website Visits

Medical Council Online Register Attracts Over 20,000 Website Visits In First Month

The Medical Council’s online register, which lists doctors registered to practise in New Zealand, with details of their names, qualifications, vocational registration and any conditions on their practice, has attracted over 20,000 visits to the site since its launch only a month ago.

The search register part of the Council’s website now captures 16% of all visitors compared to 15% for the home page and 8% for the registration section. This comprises people searching the register for the first time and others returning to search the register.

The number of visitors to the site overall, on the day of the online register launch (17 September), was over 3,000. Now the figure stands at an average of 440 per day, compared to around half this figure prior to the launch.

In October, the number of hits to the site overall, including the register, has been almost 12,000 so far; the average length of visit is 10 minutes and 890 people have visited more than once. International visits make up 41% of the total number, whilst those from New Zealand account for 35% (the remainder were from origin unknown).

Since the register went online, the Council has received many queries from medical professionals, the public and the media, relating to why some doctors’ details may not be on the register – reasons for this include that an annual practising certificate is about to be issued or that the doctor is no longer practising.

Tony Baird, President of the Medical Council, says: “With the launch of the online register, it was the Medical Council’s intention to give the public free, up-to-date and easily accessible information, including assistance on how to find a suitably qualified and registered doctor. The ultimate long-term outcome is an improvement in the relationship between doctors and patients, part of the purpose of the Medical Council. The increase in traffic to the Council’s website is a direct result of the register going online. The website statistics suggest that the public has found this information to be highly useful.”

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