NHS England on Tuesday introduced digital prescriptions in the app following a successful trial last year.
Thanks to a new service added to the NHS App, patients in England can now see their prescriptions online and collect their prescribed medication from the nominated pharmacy or a pharmacy of their choice without a paper prescription.
NHS England has introduced digital prescriptions in the app following a successful trial last year involving over a million users.
Users without a nominated pharmacy can collect their prescriptions from any pharmacy using the barcode in the app, but this is not required for patients with a nominated pharmacy as details would be sent to their pharmacy electronically.
From now on, patients waiting for elective hospital treatment can also check the average waiting time for their procedure at their local trust using the NHS App.
These new features were added as part of the health service’s campaign, which is aimed at encouraging more people to use the app in their everyday lives and help free up time for GP practices.
Health secretary Victoria Atkins reiterated that she is determined to make the 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,” she said.
Vin Diwakar, National Director for Transformation at NHS England, said they were adding more services to the NHS App to provide better care for patients while encouraging people to use the app to get the benefits.
“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,” he said.
Since its launch five years ago, the app has gained 33.6 million registered users, which is equivalent to around three quarters of the adult population in the country, NHSE revealed.
It already allows users to request repeat prescriptions digitally and there has been a 45 per cent, growth in the number of repeat prescriptions ordered through the app over the past year, with an average of 3.1 million now requested every month.
As each repeat prescription ordered using the app helps save GP practices three minutes, it is expected to save around 1.85 million hours in 2024.
