Date published: 21st May 2019

There have been numerous articles about the increased use of technology in healthcare, including the recently introduced NHS app. Is this going to help patients receive treatment faster or could this potentially lead to patients not being able to see a doctor?

In late 2017, it was decided that the NHS would develop an app that all patients in England could use to carry out simple tasks.

According to, NHS Digital, the NHS App enables patients to:

If their GP practice is connected to the NHS app, then a patient will be able to:

  • book and manage appointments at their GP practice
  • order their repeat prescriptions
  • securely view their GP medical records

All GP practices will be connected to the NHS app by 01 July 2019. Patients can check if their GP practice is connected when they open the app for the first time. If their practice is not connected, patients can leave an email address and will be notified when it is.

NHS Digital released the results of the pilot phase of the NHS app. Users found that the app was simple to navigate and that ordering a repeat prescription was easy and convenient. However, users found that booking appointments was not easy to understand and that the two factor authentication system, meaning that you have to enter a four digit code each time you want to log in, was annoying.

Other examples of how technology is changing healthcare include hospitals using Artificial Intelligence to predict when patients are most likely to miss appointments; a digital portal to help NHS Hospitals find care home places for patients; and Britain’s space agency teaming up with the NHS to use space technology to boost X-ray scanning.

Technology definitely has its advantages and can improve healthcare. Every day, NHS staff work extremely hard in challenging environments. The last thing they need is outdated technology and equipment, slowing them down.

Using technology such as the NHS App, is a quicker and cheaper way for patients and staff to communicate. This will hopefully allow doctors and nurses to spend more time with their patients.

The NHS do need to harness the huge potential that technology can bring. However, the increased use of technology should never remove the chance for a patient to be able to have a face to face discussion with a qualified treating clinician about their health concerns. Human compassion and sensitivity can never be replaced by an app.

In our experience poor communication between doctors and their patients can be one of the contributing factors in medical negligence, and we would hope that the improvements in technology in this area will help to reduce instances of negligence.

If you feel that you or a loved one might have been harmed by medical negligence, then Jackson Lees may be able to help you understand what happened and why; and go some way to help you move on from these mistakes.

For a free consultation with one of our Medical Neligence specialist advisers, call us on 0800 387 927, request a callback at your convenience or message us your enquiry. You can also drop into the clinic at our Birkenhead office Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.