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Contracts and employment

Non-solicitation clauses and patient relationships

The key word is "solicit". Know what counts as approaching a patient or client before you announce a move.

By , Editor Updated How we check sources

England, Wales and Scotland, with a note on Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has its own courts and employment law. If you work there, read nidirect: employment contracts (opens another website) or call the Labour Relations Agency (opens another website) on 03300 555 300. General information, not legal advice.

Short answer

A non-solicitation clause stops you approaching your former employer's clients, customers or patients to win their business for a set time after you leave. The clause does not usually stop patients choosing to follow you on their own initiative, which is what a non-dealing clause targets. Like any restrictive covenant, a court enforces the clause only when the clause protects a legitimate business interest and is no wider than reasonably necessary.

Key facts

What the clause stops
Actively approaching or enticing former clients, customers or patients
What the clause usually allows
Accepting work from someone who contacts you first, unless a non-dealing clause also applies
Typical scope
People you dealt with during a set look-back period before leaving
Legal test
Legitimate business interest, and no wider than reasonably necessary
Patient data
Taking contact lists breaches confidentiality and data protection law, whatever the covenant says

What "solicit" means

To solicit is to take a step to persuade someone to move their business to you. The Acas guide to terms restricting a worker's actions (opens another website) describes non-solicitation as preventing former employees from trying to get the business of their previous employer's clients or customers. A direct call or letter to a former patient offering treatment at your new clinic is a clear example. A general announcement of a new job sits in a greyer area, depending on the wording, the audience and the timing.

Patients, clients and choice

Healthcare adds a layer other sectors do not have. Patients choose where they get care, and NHS patients can change pharmacy or GP practice. A covenant binds you, not the patient. A patient who finds your new clinic and books in is exercising their own choice. Clauses in healthcare still matter, because private clinics, aesthetics services, dental practices, physiotherapy practices and agencies often treat patient relationships as a core business asset.

Some clauses use "clients" to mean organisations, such as care homes, hospitals or GP practices which buy services from an agency or a pharmacy business. Check the definition before assuming the clause concerns individual patients.

Reading the scope of the clause

  • Who is protected: usually people you dealt with, or had confidential information about, in the 6 or 12 months before leaving. A clause covering every customer of a national business is harder to defend.
  • How long: the number of months after your employment ends.
  • What business: whether the clause covers only services like the ones you provided.
  • Staff: some clauses also bar soliciting colleagues. See non-poaching clauses.

For the legal test shared by every covenant, read restrictive covenants. For the wider restriction on working for a competitor, read non-compete clauses.

A private clinic example

Say a nurse prescriber at a private clinic moves to a new clinic across town. The old contract bans soliciting any patient she treated in the last 12 months, for 6 months after leaving. Sending her former patients a text with her new booking link would likely breach the clause. Updating her professional profile with the new workplace, without contacting patients, is far less likely to breach the clause. If a former patient rings the new clinic unprompted, the non-solicitation clause alone would not usually stop the booking. Advice on the exact wording settles the grey areas.

Safe and risky actions

Lower risk, subject to your wording:

  • telling colleagues and managers you are leaving
  • updating a professional register entry or profile with your new employer
  • treating a patient who contacts the new service without any approach from you

Higher risk:

  • messaging former patients or clients about your move
  • posting offers aimed at your old employer's patients
  • asking colleagues to pass your details to patients
  • taking patient lists, contact details or records. This also breaches patient confidentiality and data protection law. Read patient confidentiality.

Questions to ask an adviser

  • Who counts as a "client", "customer" or "patient" under my clause?
  • Would a social media post about my new job count as soliciting?
  • How long is the look-back period, and is the period reasonable for my role?
  • What should I say if a former patient contacts me?
  • Does a separate non-dealing clause also apply?

Where to get advice

Common questions

What is a non-solicitation clause?

A contract term which stops you approaching your former employer's clients, customers or patients to win their business for a set time after you leave.

Can patients follow me to a new practice?

Patients choose where they get care. A non-solicitation clause stops you approaching them, but does not usually stop a patient who contacts you first. A non-dealing clause may go further.

Is announcing my new job on social media soliciting?

The answer depends on the wording, the audience and the content of the post. A general update is lower risk than a post aimed at former patients, so check with an adviser first.

Are non-solicitation clauses enforceable?

Courts enforce them more often than non-compete clauses, but only where the clause protects a legitimate business interest and is no wider than reasonably necessary.