At Digital Health Rewired 2025, HTN’s Emily Rodwell, senior writer, attended a panel discussion on the question, ‘can the NHS App finally become the digital front door?’. Talking as part of the digital transformation stage was Professor Joe Harrison, national director of NHS digital channels at NHS England and chief executive at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Rachel Hope, director of digital prevention service at NHS England.
The key announcement to come out of this session was the news that the NHS App will be integrated with the EPR system, Epic as of this year, with plans to have all trusts connected to the app by 2026.
Joe went on to highlight the current progress of the NHS App, noting around 50 million log-ins per month, which has doubled in the past year, adding the app “twice as many users as Netflix”. He said that the use of the NHS App has reportedly helped to save “£504 million in costs and efficiency so far” for the 2024/25 period and aims to double the amount of monthly log-ins again within the next year.
NHS App: the wider trend
As part of this progression of the NHS App, NHS England recently awarded two new contracts to support the “delivery of large-scale public facing digital services”. Technology consultancy company, BJSS Limited was awarded a three-year contract valued at £37.5m to support the development of the NHS.uk portfolio, while IBM’s contract was extended to allow them to continue their work on developing the NHS App, bringing the total value up to £65.5m, as they move closer to the June 2026 end date.
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB recently reported that 61% of their registered patients have downloaded NHS App. This totals at an estimated 500,000 patients, with 4,500 people downloading it and registering in October 2024 alone.
In January, the Prime Minister’s Office shared details of the Elective Reform Plan, focusing on expanded use of CDCs and surgical hubs, along with the NHS app, remote monitoring, and technologies such as AI to help tackle waiting lists. This included using the NHS app to offer patients “greater choice and control” over their treatment by ensuring better access to information, details of appointments, results, and appointment booking facilities.
