Your Socrates records move across. You check them, then you switch.

The move, in order

Rehearse first. Your clinic says go.

1. 01

   Agree what moves

   Every record type comes across: patients, appointments, clinical notes, letters and billing. You and Ask Brigid write that scope down before anything is imported.

2. 02

   Rehearse with representative records

   We map the export and rehearse the import, so you can see your own data in Ask Brigid before anything in the old system changes. Your team checks patient matching, documents, dates, appointments and invoices.

3. 03

   Run a clinic day with your secretary

   We set the practice up with your secretary. She works a clinic day in Ask Brigid: finding a record, preparing a letter, managing the list.

4. 04

   Your clinic says go, in writing

   Nothing goes live until your clinic has checked the move and confirmed it in writing. Then it is a clean switch. You do not run the two systems side by side.

Leaving Socrates Consultant

Socrates returns the files to you.

Socrates documents a per-patient export under Patient Maintenance. It saves one patient’s file, including letters and scanned documents, as a PDF. That path is for handing one file to a patient or a solicitor. Source: Socrates, how to do a Patient Export, checked 6 November 2026. The page is Sheila’s tip of the week, so confirm it still shows Patient Export when you use it.

The whole-practice return is different. Socrates’s termination FAQ says that after the licence ends it returns your data to you, as data controller, in CSV format with field headers, at no charge. It does not send the files to another vendor, and it does not take instructions from one. You pass the files to Ask Brigid, and Ask Brigid imports them. Source: Socrates termination FAQ, checked 6 November 2026.

The same FAQ says a test export before the licence ends falls outside the standard licence. Extra transition help, if Socrates offers it, is charged on a time-and-cost basis. Access to Socrates stops when the licence terminates, unless you agree an extension on Socrates’s own terms. Its team says it stays available for five business days after the extraction for questions about the files. Keep a current backup immediately before the extraction.

Your contract

Check the notice in your own Socrates contract.

Do not plan around a standard notice period. Socrates’s termination FAQ does not state one. The notice that applies is the one in your licence. Read it, and ask Socrates in writing to confirm the termination date, before you set a switch date.

Before you say go

What your secretary checks.

Check the records the first clinic day depends on, then the history. Anything missing or wrong is fixed before go-live.

• Each patient appears once, with the right name, date of birth and contact details.
• Clinical notes and letters sit on the right patient’s record, in date order.
• Booked appointments are on the right dates, times and rooms.
• Invoices and outstanding balances match what the old system showed.
• Letter templates and letterhead are set up for the practice.

When to stay

Staying on Socrates can be the right call.

Stay if your rooms depend on something Ask Brigid does not do. The Socrates Consultant page lists theatre bookings, integration with hospital IT systems, and patient reminders and text messages. Source: Socrates Consultant, checked 6 November 2026. Ask Brigid does not send text messages, and it does not submit insurer claims. Your team uses each insurer’s own channels. For the rest of the comparison, see Ask Brigid and Socrates, and if you are leaving iMedDoc instead, see switching from iMedDoc.

What it costs

Essential €129/month. Professional €299/month.

Essential is €129/month. Professional is €299/month. Both are per practice, before VAT, and every seat is included. Record migration is included on Essential and on Professional. A third plan is coming soon.

You can take a full export of your practice’s records, in a usable format, free, within five working days of asking. That is written into your order, with no extraction fee. The prices in full are on the pricing page.