NHS England has said that more than 500,000 repeat prescriptions are now booked through the NHS App every week.
It has published new figures showing that since the app’s launch in December 2018, it has been used to order more than 42 million repeat prescriptions.
Last month alone it enabled 2.4 million orders compared with 1.7 million in April 2022 and 393,000 in April 2021.
Year on year, numbers have increased by 92% from 13 million repeat prescriptions ordered via the app in 2021-22 to 25 million in 2022-23.
Chief pharmaceutical officer for England David Webb said: “Patients can order repeat prescriptions through the app at a time and date convenient to them and access community pharmacy information about local healthcare advice and services available during the bank holidays.”
He added: “The app offers a digital front door for interacting with the NHS with a host of new features launched in the last year– empowering patients to access services from the comfort of their homes.”
Existing features
Some of the features available on the NHS App enable patients to view their GP health record, nominate their preferred pharmacy, find local NHS services and get health advice via 111 online.
NHS England has said that other features are being added, and that many GP practices are now sending NHS App notifications to patients with appointment reminders and other messages relating to their care.
The app has now recorded more than 32 million sign-ups (as of April 2023). More than 28 million of these have fully verified their identity through NHS login.
