Image source: NHS DIgital
The NHS App has reached its fifth birthday with 33.6 million registered users, around three-quarters of the adults in England, and monthly traffic has risen by more than half in the past year.
NHS England has publicised the figures, saying the number of log-ins increased by 54% to 16.8 million per month in the 12 months to last November.
It added that pensioners are the most active users of the NHS App, with 62% of the 3.6 million registered users aged over 66 having accessed it within the past three months, including more than 256,400 in their 80s and almost 17,100 aged 90 and over.
Other figures include that 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; and the number of repeat prescriptions has risen by 48% from 2.2 million in November 2022 to 3.2 million in November 2023. Over the past five years, a total of 66.1 million repeat prescription have been ordered through the app.
Under a programme of adding new features, patients in many parts of the country are now able to view and manage their hospital appointments on the app, and many GP practices are now sending notifications to patients with appointment reminders and other messages relating to their care.
Helping millions
Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive said: “The NHS App started small five years ago but, with a significant amount of hard work behind the scenes, it is now helping millions of patients across the country – whether it’s booking an appointment, sorting a prescription, or checking your records.
“Just a few years ago, people had to go into a GP for a paper prescription but now via the NHS app it can be done at the touch of a button – which is a truly transformational change and so much more convenient for patients.
“The NHS is already world leading in population coverage of the app but I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t already downloaded the NHS App to give it a go and see how easy it is to manage their healthcare from the palm of their hand.”
