Announcements
Apologies for any down time today
Apologies for any down time you may have experienced today, the server was having a new IP address assigned today but it appears the host may have messed something up in the process, they didn’t give me any more information other than there was a temporary issue with the node that the SurgeryWeb server is on, all is functioning OK now but I will be seeking a more detailed explanation from them.
Adrian
Google Maps update
Dear all
Following the post on 4th September regarding the recent changes with Google Maps API and billing (see here: Recent change to Google Maps which affects your Practice website), we are still contemplating the best way to approach this going forward.
Some Practices may notice that their location map has disappeared from the home page of their website, this is only a temporary measure and will be re-introduced on 1st October. The map can still be found on the websites Contact page. This measure is required to minimise the number of map API calls over the next week. We then need to get an accurate number of map loads throughout the month of October so we can better monitor usage, distribute API keys across several billing accounts and minimise costs to SurgeryWeb, ensuring that the service we provide remains sustainable.
We apologise for any incovenience that this may cause, but just like in Primary Care, if costs rise then elements need to be assessed and measures put in place to minimise these additional costs.
Recent change to Google Maps which affects your Practice website
On 11th June 2018 Google enforced the use of API keys to load maps embedded on to websites, this is the interactive map at the bottom of your Practice website. Then on 16th July 2018, a new pay-as-you-go pricing plan went into effect for Maps, Routes, and Places. whereby SurgeryWeb is charged per API request.
Unfortunately we have just discovered that 1 API request is made for each map load, not each site load, which is a rookie mistake on our part, and as the Practice location map is situated on each page of the Practice website, this has accumulated a massive amount of requests. If one patient were to browse your website and look at 15 pages before logging off, this is 15 API requests.
In August alone, SurgeryWeb Practice websites made a total of 92,916 API requests and has therefore been faced with an unfortunate and unexpected bill.
To massively reduce the number of API requests on a monthly basis, we have now removed the map from all pages except for the Practice home page and the Contact Page (it is uncommon for maps to be displayed on all pages anyway) so that the number of requests per site visit should only be 2 (unless a patient visits the home page or contact page several times in one session).
We apologise for any inconvenience but hope you understand why we have had to make this change.
CQC Widget Issue
Good morning all
There is a known issue with the CQC widget which is preventing it from being displayed on your web page, unfortunately as the issue is at their end it is out of my control. CQC are aware of the issue and are working on this, so your widgets should hopefully be back online by the end of the day.
Kind regards
Adrian
We are GDPR compliant
Following a successful deployment of SurgeryWeb Theme version 2.8 and an update of the main SurgeryWeb website, we are now the only Practice website supplier to become fully compliant.
Each of the Practice websites we supply have features to collect consent on submissions of various forms, a written privacy policy which gives details about the personal data that is collected, who can view it and how it is stored, and other additional features.
Merry Christmas to all of our Practices
SurgeryWeb would like to wish all of it’s registered Practices a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
All the best for 2018, let’s hope CQC don’t give you too much grief!
Have a great one!
Adrian
Security Update – 5/12/17
Good morning all
So once again, apologies if anyone experience any downtime yesterday but it was imperative that we rolled out a few additional security measures to all sites due to an ‘increasing memory load’ on the server causing it to become unresponsive.
To prevent this spike in memory usage in the future, we have implemented a “maximum failed login attempts” limit, where an IP address will be blocked after 3 failed attempts, there is also a limit of how many connections 1 IP address can have open at any one time, and there are other Firewall and spam preventatives in place.
We thank you for your patience.
Adrian – SurgeryWeb
*Security Update* – 04/12/2017
Some users may experience intermittent downtime this morning while we work with our server team to apply an update across all sites, this is due to an increasing memory load on the server causing performance issues.
We will update you further as soon as this is complete.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
Adrian
New Support Section
To celebrate SurgeryWeb’s first birthday, we have redeveloped the SurgeryWeb website.
As well as the fresh new look which displays our extensive list of features and some snippets from our excellent 5* reviews, it also features a new Support section containing some tutorial videos and in-depth articles which are easy to follow and printable.
Of course you can still contact SurgeryWeb by e-mail at any time if you ever need any assistance, but we would encourage you to have a look at the Support Section first, and if your issue is not covered then let us know so we can rectify this.
** IMPORTANT ** – Core Update
I have recently discovered that an update in the core ‘Content Management System’ included a newer version of the Visual Content Editor which no longer supports Internet Explorer versions 8, 9 and 10.
The current release of Internet Explorer is version 11 and this has been around for 4 years, Microsoft also stopped supporting older versions of this browser from around the same time, so nobody should really be using a version of Internet Explorer previous to 11 (mainly for security as new patches have not been applied for at least 4 years).
According to netmarketshare.com, only 1/6% of the global population are still using this browser, with over 45% using either IE11 or Chrome.
If you are stuck on an old version of Intenet Explorer for any reason (as I know some NHS Wirral Practices are using IE8 due to other local applications) then please let me know and if you are affected by this, I can re-install the previous version of the Content Management System for you, but I would strongly recommend that you a) upgrade your version of Internet Explorer, b) install an alternative browser or c) contact your local IT department for further guidance.
