Last year, NHS England trialled a new NHS App feature on over a million users. After a successful trial, the app now allows patients to view their prescribed medications and prescription issue dates. The average wait time for local trusts and services will also be visible for patients who are waiting for elective hospital care.
Another useful new feature shows a barcode within the app for those users who don’t have a designated pharmacy – with this they can pick up their prescription at any pharmacy without the need of a paper version. As pharmacies receive prescription details electronically, all patients with a designated pharmacy can continue to pick up their medication without either a paper note or barcode. With these changes, The NHS is campaigning to encourage more people to start using the app in an effort to free up some time for busy NHS workers.
At the beginning of this campaign, the NHS gave patients access to digitally requesting repeat prescriptions, and the orders of prescriptions on the NHS App have already grown by 45% in just the last year. The app now has 3.1 million requests each month. GP practices save three minutes with every repeat prescription ordered online – in 2024, it is expected that app repeat prescription orders will save around 1.85 million hours. It is a suitable addition for patients too, saving them 18 minutes on average with each digital order while frontline staff get more time to fulfil their important roles.
The National Director for Transformation at NHS England, Vin Diwakar, commented:
“The NHS App is transforming the way people manage their healthcare, freeing up valuable time for healthcare professionals.”
“Giving all patients in England direct access to prescription information through the app means they’ll know when their prescription is issued and avoid delays in collection.”
“The new feature will also mean people who haven’t set a nominated pharmacy will be able to present the barcode in the app to a pharmacy of their choice without needing a paper version.”
“The prescription service is the latest in a number of services we’re adding to the NHS App to provide better care for patients. I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t used the NHS App for a while, or who has never downloaded it, to tap the app and see what it has to offer.”
Secretary of Health and Social Care, Victoria Atkins noted: “I’m determined to make our health care system faster, simpler and fairer for patients – and the NHS App is all about making access to care easier for everyone.”
“Today’s update will mean ordering and collecting your prescriptions can be done with a few taps of your fingers. This will not only benefit anyone getting a prescription, it will also ease pressures on our hardworking pharmacists and GPs – freeing up valuable time for patients and helping to cut waiting lists.”
And lastly, the Digital Channels National Director of NHS England, Joe Harrison said: “The NHS App is helping to support our frontline staff, freeing up time to treat more patients and enabling patients to get more involved in their care.”
“Millions of people are already using the app to order repeat prescriptions, and they’ll now also be able to view and manage their prescriptions using the new service in the app.”
“Since the introduction of the NHS App five years ago, 33.6 million users, or almost three-quarters of all adults in the UK, have enrolled and started using it.”
The NHS are simplifying the digital experience and helping patients to find the services they need on the app. This campaign hopes to spread the premise that all it takes to access an abundance of information and related services, look at your GP record, or schedule a repeat prescription is a simple ‘tap of the app.’
Julia is a Healthcare and Digital Health writer.
Article source: https://www.england.nhs.uk/2024/01/digital-prescriptions-go-live-in-nhs-app/
