First Practice Management
First Practice Management is a UK-based provider of compliance software (FPM Core), HR support, recruitment, training (Thornfields), and NHS-conformant websites (My Surgery Website), serving 7,500+ health and care organizations across GP, Dental, Care, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Charity sectors.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2003
- HeadquartersLeeds, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What First Practice Management does
First Practice Management (FPM), trading as a division of SRCL Ltd (a Stericycle Solution), is a UK-based compliance software and services provider founded in 2003 and headquartered in Leeds. The company targets health and care sector organizations, primarily GP practices, with a portfolio spanning six verticals: General Practice, Dental, Care, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Charities, plus Primary Care Networks (PCNs). With more than 7,500 customers, FPM positions itself as one of the UK's largest providers of compliance software, HR support, recruitment, training, and consultancy services to health and care managers.
FPM's flagship product is FPM Core, a web-based compliance management platform built on DotNetCore, Angular, C#/MVC, Web API/REST, SQL Server, and Umbraco 12+, hosted on AWS infrastructure with Docker. The platform offers an integrated suite of modules covering policies and procedures, CQC inspection preparation, employment/HR management, health and safety, business continuity, and policy expert templates, with reporting on staff policy acknowledgment and automated regulatory updates. Supporting offerings include My Surgery Website (an NHS-conformant website building service developed in collaboration with the NHS), MSW Digital (serving Scottish GP practices), and Thornfields (a training sub-brand with 25 years of experience delivering workshops, webinars, and ILM courses). FPM also provides an end-to-end recruitment service and HR/management consultancy.
The business model is primarily subscription-based, with annual licence fees for FPM Core and its modules, supplemented by recurring website hosting fees for My Surgery Website, and project-based revenue from recruitment, training, and consultancy engagements. FPM reaches customers through a sales-led motion that combines direct website-driven acquisition, content marketing (blog, LinkedIn newsletter, monthly email bulletins), and a customer support/HR helpline. Distribution is single-country (United Kingdom) and the company is a wholly-owned subsidiary within the Stericycle corporate group, with no independent funding events.
First Practice Management firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- First Practice Management
- Legal name
- SRCL Ltd
- Website
- https://firstpracticemanagement.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2003
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- First Practice Management is a UK-based provider of compliance software (FPM Core), HR support, recruitment, training (Thornfields), and NHS-conformant websites (My Surgery Website), serving 7,500+ health and care organizations across GP, Dental, Care, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Charity sectors.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
First Practice Management industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Healthcare Compliance Software
- NAICS
- Management Consulting Services (54161)
- SIC
- Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Quality Assurance, GxP Compliance & Auditing FSP (HLAGAOAE)
Keywords
Where First Practice Management is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Leeds
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
First Practice Management business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Compliance Software Licensing (FPM Core): Annual licence fees for web-based IT compliance services including FPM Core, First Practice Management, Employment Manager, Health and Safety Manager, CQC Toolkit, Policy Expert, and Continuity Manager. The licence provides full access to the IT service for a year, with automatic renewal unless cancelled with 90 days notice. Additional IT services ordered during the term are provided for the remainder of the initial term.
- Recruitment Services: Standard job-listing service and comprehensive recruitment packages where FPM manages the entire recruitment process end-to-end for health and care sector organisations.
- Training Services (Thornfields): Training services including workshops, webinars, ILM courses, and professional development programmes for health and care staff.
- Consultancy Services: HR and business consultancy services including maximising profits, improving performance, planning redundancies, and managing change.
- Website Services (My Surgery Website): Website building and hosting services for GP practices, conforming to NHS standards for usability and functionality.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Annual licence fees with flexible IT services |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels8 records
First Practice Management product offering
Product offeringCore offering
First Practice Management provides a web-based compliance management platform (FPM Core) delivering policies, procedures, inspection checklists, and toolkits to UK health and care organisations. The offering is complemented by NHS-compliant website building (My Surgery Website), healthcare training (Thornfields), recruitment services, and HR/employment consultancy. The platform includes real-time compliance reporting on staff policy acknowledgment and automated policy updates as regulations change.
Product overview
First Practice Management operates a platform-plus-modules architecture centred on FPM Core, their flagship compliance management software. Supporting products include My Surgery Website (NHS-conformant website building service) and Thornfields (healthcare training services). The FPM Core platform comprises multiple integrated modules including Employment Manager, Health and Safety Manager, CQC Toolkit, Policy Expert, and Continuity Manager, all accessible through annual web-based licences with automated policy updates and UK-based data centre storage.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- FPM Core: Market-leading compliance software for health and care sectors providing policies, procedures, inspection checklists, and toolkits.
- Thornfields
- My Surgery Website
- MSW Digital
Products and services
- FPM Core Web-based compliance management platform providing policies, procedures, inspection checklists, and toolkits for health and care organisations. It offers real-time visibility into compliance status, automated policy updates as regulations change, and centralised document management.
- My Surgery Website Website building and hosting service for GP practices and health organisations, conforming to NHS standards for usability and functionality. Provides patient-facing websites with features including newsletter subscription and practice management tools.
- Thornfields Training Healthcare training services provider offering workshops and courses for health and care staff, including ILM courses and professional development programmes delivered through thornfields.co.uk.
- Recruitment Services Recruitment services for senior roles in the health and care sector, offering both standard job-listing services and comprehensive end-to-end recruitment packages where FPM manages the entire recruitment process.
- HR and Business Consultancy HR and business consultancy services including guidance on maximising profits, improving performance, planning redundancies, and managing change, with an HR helpline providing expert employment law and policy advice for health and care managers.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 7,500 health and care organisations use FPM services
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use First Practice Management
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
First Practice Management technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature10 records
First Practice Management partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered parent company, core and integration partner.
- SRCL Ltd (A Stericycle Solution)parent companyFirst Practice Management (FPM) is a division of SRCL Ltd, which is a Stericycle Solution. The parent company is Stericycle, a US-based company. Terms of Service state that SRCL Ltd trading as FPM Group operates from Indigo House, Sussex Avenue, Leeds LS10 2LF.
- NHScoreFPM has worked closely with the NHS to ensure their My Surgery Website service conforms to all NHS latest standards in usability and functionality. NHS England is referenced extensively as a regulatory and policy framework partner.
- Blue Stream Academyintegration partnerBlue Stream Academy is a training platform integration partner. FPM Core integrates with Blue Stream Academy allowing policies to be linked to online training within the partner platform, streamlining education processes for team members.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
First Practice Management competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- EMIS Group: EMIS is one of the UK's largest suppliers of healthcare IT for primary care, including GP clinical systems. While its core is clinical software rather than compliance, its deep penetration of UK GP practices makes it a broad incumbent whose product roadmap could expand into compliance workflows.
- Cegedim Healthcare Solutions: Cegedim provides practice management and clinical software to UK GP practices and primary care organisations. It is comparable to FPM as a UK primary-care technology vendor, with potential overlap in workflow and compliance tooling.
- TPP: TPP is a major UK healthcare software provider serving the NHS with electronic patient record and primary care systems. As a large-scale incumbent in UK GP IT, it represents both a potential competitor and a partner for compliance integration.
Direct peers
- Peninsula Group: Peninsula provides HR, employment law, and health & safety services to UK SMEs, including care and dental sectors. It competes with FPM's Employment Manager module and HR consultancy services via a similar subscription-plus-helpline model.
- Practice Index: Practice Index provides HR and compliance support, policies, and toolkits specifically tailored to UK GP practices. It directly overlaps with FPM Core's general practice offering, serving the same GP practice manager buyer with similar subscription-based compliance content.
- Citation Group: Citation provides HR, health & safety, and compliance software and advisory services to UK SMEs, including regulated sectors like care and dental. It overlaps with FPM's HR/Compliance/Employment Manager modules, with a comparable annual subscription and helpline model.
- WorkNest (formerly Ellis Whittam): WorkNest provides HR, employment law, and health & safety services to UK employers, with a strong care-sector presence. It competes with FPM's HR, Employment Manager, and Health & Safety modules in the care and dental verticals.
- Quality Compliance Systems (QCS): QCS is a leading UK provider of compliance management software, policies, and toolkits for the care sector, serving thousands of care providers. It directly competes with FPM in care-sector compliance, with overlapping content, CQC toolkit, and SaaS distribution model.
Others
- HFMA (Healthcare Financial Management Association): HFMA provides training, education, and technical guidance to finance professionals across the NHS. It is adjacent to FPM's Thornfields training offering in the broader UK healthcare workforce development space, though it focuses on finance rather than compliance/HR.
Emerging players
- Blue Stream Academy: Blue Stream Academy is a UK healthcare training and compliance platform that integrates with FPM Core. While it currently partners with FPM, it operates in adjacent training/compliance territory and could evolve into a more direct competitor in policy-linked training workflows.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
First Practice Management social profiles
Digital presenceFirst Practice Management compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
First Practice Management financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
First Practice Management leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
First Practice Management funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
First Practice Management M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about First Practice Management
What does First Practice Management do?
First Practice Management provides a web-based compliance management platform (FPM Core) delivering policies, procedures, inspection checklists, and toolkits to UK health and care organisations. The offering is complemented by NHS-compliant website building (My Surgery Website), healthcare training (Thornfields), recruitment services, and HR/employment consultancy. The platform includes real-time compliance reporting on staff policy acknowledgment and automated policy updates as regulations change.
Is First Practice Management a public or private company?
First Practice Management is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was First Practice Management founded?
First Practice Management was founded in 2003. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is First Practice Management based?
First Practice Management is headquartered in Leeds, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does First Practice Management make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Compliance Software Licensing (FPM Core) is the primary driver. The others are recruitment Services, training Services (Thornfields), consultancy Services and website Services (My Surgery Website).
Who are First Practice Management's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are EMIS Group, Cegedim Healthcare Solutions and TPP. Direct peers are Peninsula Group, Practice Index, Citation Group, WorkNest (formerly Ellis Whittam) and Quality Compliance Systems (QCS). HFMA (Healthcare Financial Management Association) is listed as an others. Blue Stream Academy is listed as an emerging player.
Does First Practice Management have an API?
No public API is recorded for First Practice Management.
What industry is First Practice Management in?
First Practice Management's product category is Healthcare Compliance Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAOAE, Quality Assurance, GxP Compliance & Auditing FSP. Its NAICS code is 54161 and its SIC code is 8000.