Nearly 400,000 people have used the prescription tracker feature on the NHS App in the 10 weeks since its launch, NHS England has said.
The feature was announced in May and is currently available in 1,650 high street pharmacies, including every Boots in England.
The tracker allows patients to check on their prescriptions through real time ‘Amazon-style’ updates and get notifications on their progress.
Since May, the feature has been used 715,000 times, which is the equivalent of once every nine seconds, according to NHS England. Nearly 4.4 million people have viewed their prescription on the app during this time, and 394,000 people have used the tracking feature to see if it was ready.
It is also expected to be made available to 5,000 more pharmacies over the next 12 months, covering 60% of those in England.
The latest data shows that the NHS App now has 37.4 million registered users with an average of 11.4 million people logging in each month.
In total, 61.5 million repeat prescriptions have been ordered via the NHS App in the past 12 months, which is a 46% increase on the year before (42.2 million).
Dr Vin Diwakar, clinical transformation director at NHS England, said the feature was ‘freeing up more time for pharmacists to spend with their patients by cutting the number of calls to chemists’.
NHS England estimated that almost half (45%) of phone calls to pharmacies were from patients asking if their prescriptions were ready.
Dr Diwakar added: ‘For those who rely on regular prescriptions, the tracker offers near real-time updates on when their medicines are ready, like you can get for your online shopping, and this is all part of our shift to give people more control over their care through the NHS App.’
Ruth Rankine, primary care director and neighbourhood lead at the NHS Confederation, said: ‘It is really positive that the new prescription tracking feature in the NHS App is being so well received by the public.
‘Community pharmacies have a key role to play in neighbourhood health services – alongside other primary and community care services – so freeing up pharmacists to dedicate more time to prevention activities and long-term condition management is really important.’
However, she added: ‘We need to remember that not everyone will be able to use tools such as this, so it’s important that we also design our services to reflect the needs of those who need them the most.’
The app is due to expand so that patients receive all ‘appropriate’ messages via the NHS App within the next three years, according to plans revealed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in June.
The 10 year plan also placed the NHS App as central to the Government’s vision for health in the next decade, with it being a ‘full front door to the entire NHS’ by 2028.
