NHS App 12+

So this app is great for ordering repeat prescriptions. It’s supposed to show your medical notes, but what it shows is pretty basic. You won’t see the in-depth letters consultants send to GPS etc, but it does have a basic overview. The medical notes part is dependable on your own GP surgery- how much detail they want to show and if anyone has actually typed up your paper notes. Mine hasn’t so I am missing 30 years of significant history. But this is not the fault of the app, but just the NHS system. However, this has alerted me to the fact that no GP will see that part either, unless I point it out, but the notes or stored on paper somewhere in a cupboard at the GP and I doubt they will ever be read again!

What I would really like to see, and would’ve really helpful NHS app team- is my exemption certificate. It would be great if it was like the covid pass that I can show, with an expiry date so I know when to renew it.

Thank you for the developer standard response, who obviously did not read my review. What a shame. Don’t expect any improvements soon.

Thank you for your review. The app shows the information your GP surgery have given you access to. To see more information, you’ll need to ask your surgery to give you access to your health records which includes test results and immunisations.

This app repeats the same problems encountered in many public sector organisation apps. The worst of which is the login procedure which is set up to lock you out of your account if for some reason you lose your connection to the app while using it. If your phone reverts to Lock Screen then you are logged out automatically and cannot get back in until at some point in the future the app decides to reset itself. The same thing will happen if you lose internet connection while using the app. This is incredibly frustrating and makes the app virtually unusable. A simple example: I logged in on my way to a hospital appointment to check the details and then allowed my phone to go to sleep. When I arrived at the hospital the stupid app would not allow me to log back in to access my appointment letter for the receptionist. Another example: I responded to a notification that I had a message in the app which turned out to be a questionnaire. I started filling out the questionnaire but let my phone go to sleep for a few seconds midway through. Returning to the app to finish I was locked out and could not get back in until the next day. It's like the developers never do any usability testing. I'm sure this heap of useless rubbish cost untold millions to develop but in the real world it's completely useless.

Thanks for your feedback. We're keen to hear about your ideas for the NHS App and your suggestion is useful to help guide the app's development. For more information on future developments for the app: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/future-developments

I’ve had conversations with NHS digital stretching back nearly 3 years. Apple, for example, were using HL7 of FHIR and if the NHS did so we could have everything (and I mean everything) on the Health App. As they do in the US and elsewhere. But yet again they set about developing their own app. Just like test, track and trace tried with some weird but unachievable ambition to collect our data and hold it centrally! All this app does is display, in an even less useful format, some of those records held by my GP. Other records, scans, letters, hospital details and reports aren’t available. A previous reviewer raised similar shortcomings but the reply just brushed him off. Even Patient Access allows a graphical display of test results (if you’re lucky and they’ve have been given identical titles). GPs have little time and less interest in my health than I do so I, along with many others, would like ALL our records in the same format and accessible by me. It is after all my data! Please stop re-inventing the wheel and direct your energies to ensuring ALL medical records are FHIR compliant for single source Smartphone access. Now wouldn’t that be really good in an emergency as we all have our phones on us even if we’re injured/unable to speak/immobile etc..

Thank you for your feedback. We are very sorry to hear you are disappointed with the NHS App. The NHS App is owned and run by the NHS, and is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services, such as ordering a repeat prescriptions or booking a consultations. By default, you can view your summary care record (SCR) in the NHS App. It shows information about allergies and adverse reactions, medicines, and your NHS number, name, address and date of birth.

Your GP decides whether to give you access to more detailed information in your record. To request full access to your detailed coded record, please contact your GP surgery.

If your GP surgery have given you access, but you still cannot see the information in your record in the NHS App, please contact us and we'll investigate further.

If there is anything else you would like to ask, please do not hesitate to contact us.