12
NEWS
Digital 'scripts' on
NHS App
Millions of people now able to use the NHS App to
view their prescriptions.
Following a successful trial last
year involving over a million
users, NHS England is adding
the new service to the app,
which will allow patients to see when
their prescriptions have been issued
and view their prescribed medication.
Users without a nominated pharmacy
will be able to use a barcode in the
app to collect their prescription from
any pharmacy instead of needing a
paper version, while anyone who has
a nominated pharmacy can continue
to collect medication without a paper
prescription or barcode as details are
sent to their pharmacy electronically.
In addition, patients waiting for
an elective hospital treatment will
also now be able to see the average
waiting time for their procedure,
The new features are being
added as the NHS runs a campaign
to encourage more people to use
the app in their everyday lives and
help free up time on the frontline.
Each repeat prescription ordered
electronically saves GP practices
three minutes of time, with those
ordered using the app expected to
save the equivalent of 1.85 million
hours in 2024. Patients also save
an average of 18 minutes with each
online order.
Monthly traffic
New figures show that the NHS App
has gained 33.6m registered users -
equivalent to around three quarters
of the adult population - since its
launch five years ago. Monthly traffic
to the app has risen by more than half
in the past year, and the total number
of monthly logins has increased by
54% over 12 months.
NHS chiefs have praised the huge
progress made on the NHS app over
the last five years which is becoming
the 'front door' to a range of NHS
services, including:
• The number of appointments
viewed or managed through the
app has more than doubled in
the last year, from 1.95 million in
November 2022 to 4.1 million in
November 2023.
• There were 10.7 million views of
patient records in the app last
month, compared to 5.8 million in
November 2022.
• The number of repeat prescriptions
has risen by almost half (48%) from
2.2 million in November 2022 to 3.2
million in November 2023.
• Over the last five years, a total of
66.1 million repeat prescription
have been ordered through the
app, saving valuable time for
patients and clinicians.
• There has been a 6% increase in
the number of over 50s signing up
for the NHS App in the last three
months, following the introduction
of new services including vaccine
bookings.
• Recent statistics also show that
pensioners are the most active
users of the NHS App. Nearly
two-thirds (62%) of the 3.6 million
registered users aged over 66 have
accessed the app within the past
three months, including more than
256,400 in their 80s and almost
17,100 aged 90 and over.
www.nhs.uk/nhs-app