NHS England is to partner with libraries across the country to help patients access online health services via the NHS App.
Launching in October with the National Health Literacy Partnership, the scheme will give librarians toolkits and support to enable them to help people use the app and NHS.uk.
The service has already begun in a ‘small number’ of libraries in England, such as in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB which holds digital cafes for those who need help with the NHS App.
Marta Fischer, digital access lead for the ICB, said: ‘People find it really easy to use once I talk them through it, they find being able to see test results and their records online helpful.
‘Sometimes people presume all those over a certain age can’t use technology, but many of the patients I work with already use apps and appreciate how easy the NHS App makes it to order their repeat prescriptions online and help them keep track of their healthcare.’
Pensioners are the most active users of the NHS App currently, according to NHS England, with 5 million having registered and almost half of these using it from March to May 2024. This compares to one in four users in their 20s and one in three in their 30s.
John Quinn, chief information officer at NHS England, and a former librarian said: ‘Public libraries are at the heart of our communities and offer a significant opportunity to reach those who face barriers when it comes to accessing their health information online.
‘The NHS App has more than 34 million registered users and we want to ensure no-one is excluded from using this service.
‘My first profession was a librarian, and it was amazing training for the role I do today. Librarians have always been at the forefront of providing services to communities and getting information to people at the right time.’
Louise Goswami, chief knowledge officer for the NHS in England added: ‘We are delighted to see this development with libraries, which builds on the great work we already do with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and public library colleagues, where we have trained 178 health literacy trainers in NHS libraries and run health literacy pilots at 14 public library sites.
‘Through these pilots we learned that people were happy to be shown how to use NHS.uk by public library staff, so this phased rollout through public libraries will help even more people to access and make the most of their health information online.’
Last week, Tony Blair’s think tank put forward a new vision of primary care, including implementing a digital health record for every citizen to replace the GP record.
