New NHS app on its way

Every NHS patient will be able to book GP appointments and check their symptoms and order repeat prescriptions on a smartphone app.

The app will begin testing in September and  it will then be available for everyone in England to download in December for Android and Apple devices.

The new app will allow patients safe and secure access to their GP record. This new up to date serives will help patients have a more effected and active interaction with the NHS giving them access to make GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions, access 111 online urgent medical queries and also manage land-term conditions.

Patients are already able to carry out online many of the functions the app offers, but the government believes having them available via a smartphone will make them more attractive.

Mr Hunt told the BBC: “In our 70th year as the NHS, we have to look forward as well as backward and the big change that is going to happen in the next decade is the technology revolution.”

He said digital developments such as the new app would give people more control over their own health, turning them into “expert patients”.