Millions more people are expected to get appointment reminders, test results, and screening invitations via the NHS App, reducing reliance on postal communication.
Backed by over £50 million in funding, the NHS plans to send around 270 million messages through the App in 2025, up from 200 million the previous year. This move aims to streamline communication, with estimated cost savings of £200 million over the next three years.
The initiative supports the broader shift towards digital healthcare services, giving patients easier access to information and supporting informed decision-making. Push notifications will be used to help reduce missed appointments, an ongoing challenge, with around 8 million elective appointments and 30% of screening appointments missed in 2023/24.
Currently, nearly 20 million people are signed up to receive messages through the NHS App. The NHS is encouraging more patients to download the App and enable notifications to ensure they stay informed.
Over the next three years, NHS communications will be sent through the App first, followed by SMS and then letters if digital options are not available. This tiered approach aims to balance the benefits of digital tools while maintaining accessibility for those without smartphones or with specific communication needs. Phone lines may also be less burdened as more patients receive updates digitally.
Last year, 85 million vaccination messages were delivered digitally, and upcoming cancer screening programmes are expected to adopt similar methods. Further enhancements to the NHS App are also planned, including calendar integration, GP surgery support, and faster login options.
Currently, NHS App services are available in 87% of hospitals in England, forming part of wider efforts to modernise healthcare delivery.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, recently said: ‘People are living increasingly busy lives and want to access information about their health at the touch of a button, rather than having to wait weeks for letters that often arrive too late. This government is bringing our analogue health service into the digital age, so that being a patient in the NHS is as convenient as online banking or ordering a takeaway.
‘The NHS still spends hundreds of millions of pounds on stamps, printing, and envelopes. By modernising the health service, we can free up huge amounts of funding to reinvest in the frontline.
‘Through the investment and reform in our Plan for Change, we will make the NHS App the front door to the health service and put power in the hands of patients.’
Dr Vin Diwakar, Clinical Transformation Director at NHS England, recently said: ‘More than 11 million of us now log into the NHS App every month to manage our healthcare, whether ordering a repeat prescription or seeking advice on a medical condition.
‘We’re supporting the switch from analogue to digital by harnessing the power of digital communication channels so that millions more patients can receive important messages about their health direct to their smartphones – all you need to do is enable notifications in the NHS App to see and open messages.
‘The NHS App is already empowering patients by giving them more information and now by increasingly becoming a world-class way of communicating – which will save millions of pounds and free up resources for patient care. I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t got the app on their smartphone to download it now.’
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