Medical website hosting: questions to ask before moving

Separate the systems in scope

List the public website, domain, DNS, email, contact forms, booking tools and any application backend. Identify which supplier operates each part and where important data is handled. Moving the website does not automatically move these connected services.

Record who owns the accounts and who has access. The organisation should understand how to recover control if a staff member or supplier leaves. Ask for documented access arrangements and avoid having a single person's personal account be the only route to the service.

Ask for operational evidence

What is backed up, how often, and how is a restore demonstrated?
Who applies platform and dependency updates, and how are changes tested?
How are availability and failed form submissions detected?
What support hours and escalation arrangements are included?
Which logs are retained, who can access them and what information do they contain?
What files, records and configuration can be exported when leaving?

Plan the move as a controlled change

Record existing routes, redirects, certificates, DNS settings and integrations before migration. Prepare the new environment and test important pages, forms and booking handovers before changing the public destination.

Agree a rollback trigger and the steps required to restore service. Test email delivery through the authorised process rather than assuming that a successful page load proves the contact form works. Keep changes during the transition controlled so content does not diverge between environments.

Know what the support fee covers

Separate hosting infrastructure from application maintenance, content edits, security work and incident response. Ask the supplier to explain exclusions using examples. An infrastructure service may remain available while an application or third-party integration fails.

Use the NCSC cloud security principles as a reference for structured supplier questions. Match the assessment to your actual system and information rather than relying on a badge. Kay & Co. can help document ownership, plan a migration and maintain the website within an agreed support scope.