The NHS App has prevented 1.5 million hospital appointments from being missed since July, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Through the app, patients can manage their appointments, with greater power over when these are, as well as view their prescriptions and access their GP records.
The DHSC also estimates that around 5.7 million staff hours have been saved since July due to easier access to information and services through the app. This includes around 1.26 million clinical hours.
The hours and appointments saved through the app have saved the equivalent of £622m, according to the DHSC.
The app has also enabled almost 12 million fewer paper letters to be sent by hospitals since July, saving around £5.2m in postage costs. And in-app notifications for planned care will also prevent the need for 15.7 million SMS messages this year, with the DHSC estimating savings of £985,000.
This month there are 87% of hospitals that now offer services through the NHS App, which is up from 68% in July 2024.
In March, the national director for NHS digital channels said they were aiming for ‘at least’ 100 million logins a month by 2026.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘This government is determined to get our NHS fixed and fit for the future – and this is just one of the innovative ways through the Plan for Change that we’re helping patients, cutting waiting lists and saving taxpayers money all at the same time.
‘By putting the latest technology into the hands of patients so they can access services quicker, we’re freeing up more time for doctors and nurses to focus on treating people and getting waiting lists down.
‘This government is doing things differently. Every missed appointment and wasted staff hour saved means another patient getting the care they need as we drive a digital NHS revolution through our Plan for Change.’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer added that the NHS has been ‘stuck in the dark ages’.
‘NHS reform has to come through better use of tech – it’s the fuel we need to power change,’ he said.
‘As we deliver our Plan for Change to end hospital backlogs, I want to see more and more people having the option to use the app, so that everyone benefits from more control and choice over their treatment.’
Responding to the news, Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said: ‘Investing in digital technology and infrastructure in the NHS is vitally important to the government’s ambition of moving from an analogue system to a fully digitised one. This will be crucial in the ongoing improvements to NHS productivity, as well as meeting patient demand and providing safe and quality care.
‘The NHS App offers the potential to increase patient access, integration, and efficiency across the health service. It can help to reduce duplication and save the time of staff on admin tasks and things like repeat prescriptions.
‘This is why it is so important that funding in the App as well as the wider digital transformation agenda continues long term.’
It comes as the number of GP practices offering online registration for new patients has more than doubled in the past 12 months, meaning that 98.4% of practices now offer the service across England.
In January, NHS England awarded a £37.5m contract to tech consultancy firm BJSS for digital services, including the development of the NHS App.
In November, 1,400 libraries across England were supporting patients to get access to the NHS App as part of a scheme announced in August.
