NHS England has announced plans for an “online hospital” to go live in 2027, with an aim to deliver up to “8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years”.
The service, NHS Online, will aim to connect patients virtually to clinicians based anywhere in England, with triage to be completed through the NHS App, and appointments for scans then offered at local community diagnostic centres.
“When a patient has an appointment with their GP, they will have the option of being referred to the online hospital for their specialist care,” NHS England shares. “They will then be able to book directly through the NHS App and have the ability to see specialists from around the country online without leaving their home or having to wait longer for a face-to-face appointment.”
The initial focus will be on planned treatment areas with the longest waiting times, with NHS England planning to extend the offering to further areas if clinically safe to do so remotely. Tried-and-tested innovations already in use in the NHS, such as AI and remote monitoring, will be built and scaled in the first instance.
Sir Jim Mackey, NHS chief executive, noted that the NHS “must and will move forward” to match other sectors in offering digital services that are as personalised and convenient as possible, adding: “This is a huge step forward for the NHS and will deliver millions more appointments by the end of the decade, offering a real alternative for patients and more control over their own care. Patients who choose to receive their treatment through the online hospital will benefit from us industrialising the latest technology and innovations, while the increased capacity will help to cut demand and slash waiting times.”
Connecting patients with specialists anywhere in the country will help reduce variation and inequalities, according to NHS England, whilst simultaneously spreading out demand and granting clinicians “new levels of flexibility” in managing their time. Existing research on patient experience of online care from the past five years will be integrated as the programme develops, affirming a commitment to patient partnership in design and delivery.
“NHS Online is a promising step towards enhancing accessible care and shorter waits for digitally confident patients. This model has real potential to cut waiting times and connect patients with expert care more quickly,” Rachel Power, chief executive of The Patient’s Association said. “We’re pleased to see patient partnership built into the programme and it will be vital that patients shape the design and delivery of this online hospital. While this initiative will take time to implement properly, it represents an important investment in the NHS’s future capacity alongside high-quality, in-person care.”
The new service echoes commitments made in the 10 Year Health Plan for England, which promised to make the NHS App a ““doctor in their pockets” for patients as a tool for access, empowerment, and care planning, creating a “full front door to the entire NHS”.
The 10 Year Plan also outlined plans to undertake a national procurement for a new platform for “proactive, planned care”, offering expanded opportunities for remote monitoring. The intention is for the platform to be available to all NHS provider organisations, offering functionality including the ability to remotely monitor patients with data flowing through the NHS App and Single Patient Record.
Wider trend: Remote monitoring and virtual care
For HTN Now, we were joined for a discussion on the future of digital in supporting elective care and waitlist management by a panel including Sally Mole, senior digital programme manager – digital portfolio delivery team at The Dudley Group; Susannah Cleary, assistant director of operations and delivery for elective care at NHS England; and Barry Mulholland, CEO and founder of MBI Health. The session focused on the role of digital in supporting elective care and waitlist management, taking point of recent plans, and looking ahead at the potential for data and digital to further enhance elective care and waitlist management in the future.
Humber Health Partnership has shared plans to build a virtual hospital, enabling system partners to refer into virtual pathways, as part of its new digital strategy for 2025 – 2028. The partnership also focuses on digital for productivity, building a robust and interoperable digital foundation, digital inclusion, and the effective use of data for decision-making.
Bristol-based remote patient monitoring platform, Wanda Health, has secured £1.09 million in funding through its latest investment round, aiming to accelerate their growth and commercial performance within the US. The digital platform is said to support patients with congestive heart failure, chronic disease and comorbidities, acute diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and those who need cardiac rehabilitation.
Graphnet Health and Luscii, an OMRON Healthcare Service, have announced the launch of an advanced remote monitoring platform, Graphnet Remote Monitoring. The platform is said to provide the “only fully integrated solution combining population health, shared care records, and remote monitoring”, to support the NHS to identify patients suitable for remote monitoring, deliver proactive out-of-hospital care, evaluate outcomes in real time and access advanced population-level insights, the suppliers shared.
