The short answer: Plan for each failure before it happens. A second internet connection, such as 4G or 5G, can take over when the main line drops. Moving practice systems to the cloud, or protecting the office server properly, reduces the risk of a single failure. Tested backups, a written plan and a clear person to call do the rest. Together, these make up practice business continuity: keeping appointments and patient systems available when the office technology stops.
This guide is for small and mid-sized GP and dental practices in Meath, Cavan, Westmeath, Louth and Dublin. It focuses on the practice office, where an outage stops bookings and clinical work fastest.
What practice business continuity means day to day
A busy surgery depends on a few things working together. Reception needs the appointment book, phones and email. Clinicians need patient records, letters and imaging. Patients expect to book, cancel and receive reminders. If any one of these stops, the waiting room fills and the day falls behind.
The NCSC’s 12 Steps to Cyber Security sets out the principle. Plan recovery “in line with their criticality to the survival of the business”. For a practice, that usually puts appointments and patient records at the top. So, practice business continuity starts by listing what the surgery needs, and what happens if each piece fails.
A backup internet line for the surgery
Most modern practice systems need the internet. Cloud appointment books, electronic prescribing, email and often the phone system all depend on it. When the fibre line fails, the whole front desk can go quiet.
A failover setup uses a router or firewall with two connections. When the main line drops, traffic switches to the backup automatically. Common options include:
- A 4G or 5G router with a business data plan.
- Another fixed line from a different provider, where one is available.
- Satellite broadband, only where mobile signal is weak.
Before choosing, check mobile coverage at the surgery. ComReg’s coverage map is a useful first check by address. However, real speeds vary, so test a backup connection on site. Our guide to clinic guest Wi-Fi also covers keeping patient systems on a separate network. Meanwhile, our Wi-Fi and networking work covers routers, firewalls and failover together.
Cloud or office server for practice systems
Where your practice management software runs shapes what can go wrong. A cloud-hosted system keeps working if the surgery loses power, as long as staff can get online elsewhere. In contrast, software on an office server stops when that server or the building has a problem.
Neither option is risk-free for practice business continuity. Cloud systems depend on the internet and on the vendor’s own service. Meanwhile, an office server depends on its hardware, power and backups. Therefore, check with your software vendor about:
- Whether a hosted or cloud version is available.
- How they back up your data, and who restores it.
- Whether staff can view appointments offline for a short period.
- What support hours they offer for early clinics and late sessions.
Backups and recovery for patient systems
Nobody can promise a recovery time without knowing your setup. Still, a few things speed up recovery and support practice business continuity. These include recent backups, copies kept away from the office network and a restore that someone has practised.
The Data Protection Commission’s data security guidance covers this. It calls a back-up system “an essential means of recovering from the loss or destruction of data”. It also stresses “the ability to restore the availability and access to personal data”. That matters for health records, which are special category data under GDPR.
The NCSC’s guidance for small businesses says to keep backups “not directly connected to the business network”. It also says how often you back up “will depend on how frequently your data changes”. For a busy surgery, of course, data changes all day.
Also remember that Microsoft 365 backup covers email, OneDrive and SharePoint. It does not automatically cover practice management software, a local server or consulting-room PCs.
Who to call when the practice goes down
At 8am, with a full clinic list, nobody wants to search for a phone number. After all, practice business continuity depends on quick calls. Instead, keep a short contact sheet at reception and on managers’ phones. It should list your IT provider, broadband provider, software vendor and phone system support. Also note account numbers and who can log a fault.
Equally, agree who makes decisions during an outage. For example, someone should decide when to move to a paper day list. The NCSC’s SME recovery steps ask whether “you put workarounds in place” while systems are down.
From our own work
We have dealt with a case where a disgruntled employee deleted business data. Recovery depended on backups kept apart from the network. It also depended on removing access as soon as someone left. Those same foundations help any practice through an outage.
Setting up practice business continuity in advance
In practice, most of the work happens before anything breaks. A managed IT provider typically sets up:
- Internet failover, tested so staff know what it looks like.
- Monitoring that flags failing disks, full storage or a dropped line.
- Backups of Microsoft 365, and of servers and key PCs where agreed.
- Regular restore tests, with records you can check.
- A written plan with contacts, priorities and paper fallbacks.
A simple practice business continuity checklist
- Do we have a backup internet connection, and when did we last test it?
- Where does our practice software run, and what happens if it stops?
- What exactly do we back up, and when did we last restore something?
- Can reception work from another PC or site for a morning?
- Who do we call first, and who decides on a paper day list?
Hypothetical example
A three-GP practice in Navan loses its fibre line before morning clinic. The router switches to 4G automatically. Reception keeps booking in the cloud system, and the phones stay up. The broadband provider repairs the line later that day.
How Sweeney Computer Services helps with practice business continuity
Oliver Sweeney founded the company in 1985. Today, we support more than 50 businesses and more than 10 schools from Hurdlestown, Kells, Co. Meath. We work with medical and dental practices on connectivity, backup and support through our Managed IT Support.
Silver includes Microsoft 365 backup. Within our managed packages, we can also back up servers and key devices, scoped in a written proposal. We restore-test backups every two weeks and share the records on request. Our plans are Silver at €49, Gold at €69 and Diamond at €89 per user per month, excluding VAT. We bill Microsoft 365 licences separately. Gold includes email security, phishing awareness training and unlimited on-site call-outs. Our helpdesk runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, with after-hours emergency support at extra cost. For more on costs, see IT support costs for medical practices.
A quick sense-check
Could the surgery keep running tomorrow?
Book a short call with Michael Sweeney to talk through your internet, backups and what would happen in an outage.
