NHS app

The NHS App allows patients using the National Health Service in England to book appointments with their GP, order repeat prescriptions and access their GP record. Available since late 2018, the app was developed by NHS Digital and NHS England.[1] Both Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock have stressed their support for the project. Hancock presented it as the key a radical overhaul of NHS technology.[2] Hunt claimed it would mark 'the death-knell of the 8am scramble for GP appointments that infuriates so many patients'.[3]

It can also be used to access NHS 111, set patients' data sharing preferences, record organ donation preferences and end-of-life care preferences.[4] All GPs in England will be required to connect to it.[5]

Development

Jeremy Hunt laid down eight "challenges" for the development in September 2017:

  • Symptom checking and triage
  • Access to your medical records
  • GP appointment booking
  • Repeat prescription ordering
  • Changing data sharing preferences
  • Changing organ donation preferences
  • Changing end of life care choices
  • Promoting "approved apps" to patients[6]

The app was piloted from October 2018 and plans were to roll it out across England in December 2018.[7] Patients are to be sent a text message from their GP practice inviting them to download the app. It was released for testing in September 2018 in Liverpool, Staffordshire, Redditch and Bromsgrove, Wyre Forest and South Worcestershire, Wolverhampton, Hastings and Rother, and Bristol, North Somerset and Gloucestershire. Initially, it would offer symptom checking and triage; appointment booking; repeat prescription ordering; access to patient records; national data opt-out; and organ donation preference.[8] The launch of the app was accompanied by a decision that the name NHS Choices was to be abandoned, and in future the NHS site was to be called "the NHS website".[9] In November 2018, it was reported that although it would be publicly available in the App Store and Google Play store, as well as a desktop webpage by the end of December, it would be made operational to patients "one STP or one CCG at a time", a process which was expected to take several months.[10]

From 2019, it was planned to support GP video consultations and connect to an Apple Watch or FitBit. Later development includes plans to link up with the NHS e-Referral Service to allow patients to book hospital or clinic appointments. EMIS is at present the only patient record system that is fully compatible with the app.[11]

In January 2019, it was available for downloading, but according to NHS England GP practices would need to 'review some of their system settings before they can go live'. It was intended to be fully operational by 1 July 2019.[12] The app uses the NHS login to verify the identity of users.[13]

After the establishment in early 2019 of NHSX as a central IT department for the NHS, chief executive Matthew Gould stated that the app should not have any more features, but should be a platform allowing "other people innovate on top of it".[14]

Since 2020, facial verification can be used to authenticate new sign-ups to the app.[15][16][17] To take advantage of this, users submit a photo from an official document such as a passport or a driving licence. The app's developers said this feature could also be used for COVID-19 "immunity passports" providing documented proof of users' immunity due to a past infection, an idea which has proved controversial.[18]

See also
  • NHS COVID-19 – app for infectious contact tracking and alerting

References
  1. "New NHS app to improve patients access to GP services". OnMedica. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  2. "Matt Hancock's plan for an NHS tech revolution is doomed to fail". Wired. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  3. "NHS app to end '8am scramble for GP appointments' by December". GP Online. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  4. "Hancock to announce £200m for additional GDEs". Digital Health. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  5. "NHS app to be mandatory for GPs – NHS England". Health Service Journal. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  6. "Here's What The New NHS App Will Look Like - And Why It Could Have Been So Much Worse". Gizmodod. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  7. "Pilot areas announced for NHS app to book appointments". BBC. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  8. "NHS App to launch to nationwide private beta testers tomorrow". Digital Health. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  9. "Launch of NHS app marks a new era". Computer Weekly. 1 October 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  10. "NHS app will not work across England by end of 2018, officials confirm". GP Online. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  11. "GPs to consult patients using new Government NHS app from 2019". Pulse. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  12. "NHS app goes live with full rollout to all GP practices promised by July". GP Online. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  13. "Inside the NHS App". Practice Business. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  14. "NHSX CEO suggests no more features should be added to NHS App". Digital Health. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  15. "Facial verification tech in NHS app could pave way for immunity passports". NS Tech. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  16. Field, Matthew (19 May 2020). "NHS app adds face-scanning sign ups in step towards immunity certificates". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  17. May 21; Pascu, 2020 | Luana (21 May 2020). "iProov biometric facial authentication chosen by NHS to secure remote onboarding". Biometric Update. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  18. Wakefield, Jane (27 May 2020). "NHS app paves the way for 'immunity passports'". BBC News. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
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