Prescription-ready alerts will reach NHS app users — a patient group numbering in the millions — directly through their mobile devices and wearables the moment a medication order is available to pick up. The update is intended to ease pressure on pharmacy staff in England by cutting down on the routine enquiries and early visits to dispensing outlets.
Push alerts within the NHS app are required to be switched on before those notifications can come through. NHS app users were advised to activate notifications in order to get the most from the newly launched service.
Health innovation minister James Frith described the move as an illustration of digital tools offering benefits to patients in their day-to-day interactions with pharmacies, while also giving pharmacy staff more capacity to direct their attention toward patient support.
Nationwide dispensing points — nearly 2,500 of them, spanning every Asda and Boots pharmacy outlet — are set to receive the rollout. Thousands of pharmacies had already rolled out the service, with notification settings available for users who wanted to get the most from it.
Prescription-ready alerts represent one strand of a broader initiative intended to give patients greater involvement in decisions about their own care while reducing the paperwork burden on staff working at the frontline, according to NHS England's chief digital, data and technology officer. The platform's intended function centres on trimming the number of app check-ins and pharmacy visits that users would not otherwise need to make.
The NHS app's prescription-tracking tool, rolled out in May of last year, had drawn close to 2.9 million users by the time this update arrived. Patients can check where their medication is in the delivery process through the tracker, much as they would follow a parcel's journey through an online courier system. About a third of all pharmacies across England have the tracking service available to patients.
Prescription tracking within the app drew steady uptake after its debut the previous year, and the forthcoming alert functionality is expected to extend that reach by delivering updates to patients on their mobile devices in real time, according to NHS England's chief digital, data and technology officer.
Rachel Power, who leads the Patients Association, voiced backing for the addition on the grounds that it would spare patients from unnecessary trips to the pharmacy and cut down on the time they spend on related tasks. Patients had been asking for the feature, she noted, and it sits within a broader set of options — some digital, some not — designed to give people flexible ways to get hold of the information they need.
A notification about prescription readiness can reach patients through their phones or smartwatches via the alert system, with pharmacy staff potentially seeing a reduction in related enquiries as a result. Digital tools for patient-facing and administrative functions have been added to the NHS portfolio as part of a broader push to make healthcare delivery more efficient and responsive to those using it.
