How "Recommended for you" works
No black box. Here is exactly how we rank providers — and our promise about what money can and cannot buy.
Our integrity pledge
- Money never buys organic rank or quality score. A paying clinic and a non-paying clinic with identical care are scored identically.
- Paid plans buy presentation, not position — a richer profile, the ability to publish prices and accept online bookings, and at most one clearly-labelled Sponsored slot per search.
- Every score is auditable. Click "Why is this recommended?" on any result to see the points breakdown.
- Full coverage. Every CQC-registered hospital and clinic appears for free, claimed or not.
The score (out of 100)
Each provider is scored on six things patients tell us matter most. The weights:
- Published pricing — 30 points. Itemised prices score full marks; "from £X" guide prices score partial; "price on request" scores almost nothing. Transparency is the single biggest factor.
- Ease of booking — 20 points. Instant online booking > online request > phone only.
- Patient reviews — 20 points. Combined across platforms (see below).
- Accessibility — 15 points. Step-free access, wheelchair access, hearing loop, evening/weekend slots, languages, home visits, and offering both NHS and self-pay.
- CQC rating — 10 points. Outstanding > Good > Requires improvement > Inadequate.
- Distance — 5 points. Closer is better, but a slightly-further, much-better clinic can still win.
How we combine reviews
We pool ratings from public platforms such as Google and Doctify, weighted by how many reviews each has, then apply a Bayesian adjustment: ratings with few reviews are pulled toward the average until they've earned enough volume to be trusted. So a 5.0 from two reviews will not out-rank a 4.7 from nine hundred. Providers with no reviews yet are scored at a neutral baseline — never unfairly buried, never artificially boosted.
"Local partner" — full disclosure
For searches in the West Midlands you may see The Vesey marked as a Local partner with a small ranking boost. We disclose this openly:
- It only applies in the partner's region.
- It is capped at +6 points out of 100 and shown explicitly in the "Why is this recommended?" breakdown.
- It never replaces the organic score — a clearly better provider still ranks above the partner.
A capped, disclosed preference keeps faith with our transparency promise. A hidden thumb on the scale would not, and we won't do it.
Where our data comes from
- CQC public API & Care Directory (Open Government Licence v3.0) for the provider list, registration and inspection ratings.
- Provider-claimed profiles for prices, booking links, accessibility and opening hours.
- Public review platforms (Google, Doctify and others) for ratings.
- NHS England RTT data for indicative NHS waits.