Sectors
Appointment setting for healthtech selling to GP practices and PCNs.
For healthtech and digital health companies selling into NHS primary care: which buyer your price point points to, what practices and primary care networks ask before they take a meeting, when they answer, and what a campaign into them has produced.
Healthtech companies selling to GP practices get meetings by calling the person who owns the problem at the level that can buy: the practice manager or GP partner for a practice tool, the PCN’s clinical director, manager or clinical pharmacist for anything bought across several practices, and ICB digital and primary care leads for a platform. We have run that campaign for GP Triage, which averages fifteen qualified decision-maker meetings a month, and the first meetings land inside the first month.
The market in numbers
| Figure | Detail |
|---|---|
| GP practices in England | 6,143 (BMA, August 2026), down about 1,480 since 2015 through closures and mergers |
| Primary care networks | About 1,250, each serving 30,000 to 50,000 patients - roughly five practices on average |
| What that means | A PCN-level yes can switch on several practices at once, which is why the price of your product decides where to start |
Your price decides the door
| If your product is | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A low-cost tool per practice, under about £1,000 a year | PCN clinical pharmacists, clinical directors and PCN managers, and GP federations | One practice at a time does not pay back a person-led campaign; one network can be five practices |
| A practice system in the low thousands a year | Practice managers and GP partners, with the PCN as the multiplier | The practice owns the problem and the budget; neighbouring practices follow a PCN colleague |
| A platform or a service bought at scale | The practice first, then PCN clinical directors and digital leads, then ICB digital transformation and primary care leads | The practice feels the problem, the PCN shares it, the ICB sets the policy - three arguments, built separately |
The third row is how the GP Triage campaign ran, and the full account of the three layers is in selling into NHS primary care from outside it.
What they ask before they take a meeting
- Assurance. NHS buyers use the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria (DTAC); the updated form replaced the old one in full from 6 April 2026. Practices will also ask about clinical safety (DCB0129 for the manufacturer), the Data Security and Protection Toolkit and Cyber Essentials.
- The clinical system. Does it work with EMIS Web and SystmOne, and how does data get in and out?
- The workload. How many hours a month it saves, and who in the practice does less because of it. A practice manager answers that question; nobody answers a feature list.
- Who else uses it. A named practice or PCN nearby is worth more than any number.
Have those answers written down before the first dial. A rep who has to say “I will find out” to a practice manager rarely gets a second call.
When they answer
- Practice managers answer between surgeries: mid-morning after the first rush, and mid-afternoon. 8am to 9.30am is a wall.
- GP partners are hardest to reach by phone; email and a named colleague work better.
- PCN clinical directors are usually GPs too, so the same hours apply; PCN managers keep office hours.
What the first month looks like
Week one: the board.
Practices, PCNs or ICB areas chosen by your price point, with the practice manager, partner, clinical director or pharmacist named at each, and the reason each one is on the list.
Week two: the argument.
One opener per layer, built from the workload the product removes, and your assurance answers turned into two lines a rep can say.
Week three onwards: the calls.
Phone first at the hours above, with email and LinkedIn on the same cadence, and qualified meetings booked into your diary before the month is out.
In their words
They’ve consistently opened doors with GP Partners, Practice Managers, Digital Transformation Leads and senior decision-makers across PCNs and ICBs, while building and nurturing opportunities over the long term rather than simply chasing quick meetings.
How do healthtech companies get meetings with GP practices?
By calling the practice manager or GP partner about the workload the product removes, at the hours they answer, with the assurance answers ready. For anything bought across several practices, the primary care network is the better first door.
Is outbound worth it for a low-cost GP tool?
Practice by practice, rarely. At PCN or federation level, where one conversation can cover several practices, it can be. The readiness check is a quick way to test your numbers.
Do you need NHS experience to sell into primary care?
The rep needs to know the terminology, the buying layers and the calendar before the first dial, which is the fortnight the build is for. We have run a national primary care campaign, so the ground is known.
Can you sell to PCNs and ICBs as well as practices?
Yes. The GP Triage campaign started at practice level and worked upwards to PCN clinical directors and ICB digital and primary care leads.
Sources: BMA, pressures in general practice (August 2026); NHS England, primary care networks; NHS Innovation Service, updated DTAC. Last checked 29 September 2026.
The other markets we have sold into: B2B software and SaaS, healthcare and the NHS, technology firms and Microsoft partners, finance software, deep tech selling to enterprise, agencies and estate agents. All of them are on the sectors page.
Selling into primary care? Fifteen minutes on your market.
Bring the product and the price. We will tell you which door we would knock on first, and why.
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