NHS App pilot had ‘no negative impact’ on practices

The NHS Digital pilot testing the NHS App in GP practices has had ‘no negative impact’ on practices, according to a recent report on the findings.
 
In September 2018, NHS Digital and NHS England began running the pilot project to test patients’ and practices experience of the NHS App.
 
Thirty-four practices took part in the pilot, which ran from September to December 2018, and reported that over 3,000 users from those practices registered to use the app.
 
NHS Digital reported that whilst there were concerns from some practices about sending text messages to large groups of patients, ‘this did not materialise and the NHS App had no significant negative impact on the practices.’
 
There was also a concern aired by some practices that there was ‘no dedicated support phone line for patients’ because there was an expectation for a service that managed the sign-up to online services. As a result, a support phone line was opened during the pilot, but, according to the report, only one call was received.
 
Our sister publication Pulse, where this article was first published, recently reported that many online GP providers cannot connect to the NHS App as they do not have the technology in place.
 
Earlier in September last year, GPs were asked by the health secretary at the time to promote the NHS App to patients via text.
 
This story was first published on our sister publication Pulse.