Revealed: NHS app used to book appointments with less than 1% of GPs, prompting users to question its usefulness

It was set to revolutionise healthcare by allowing patients to book appointments directly from their tablet or smartphone. When the NHS app launched in 2019, then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt boasted that it would “mark the end of the eight-hour scramble to see a GP that infuriates so many patients”.

The app is also designed to allow patients to view test results, medical records, upcoming appointments and order repeat prescriptions.

But five years on, the app is clearly not delivering on its promises. Analysis by The Mail on Sunday found that fewer than one per cent of GP appointments are booked through the app. And there are countless other issues, according to patients and GPs.

Last week, our resident, Dr. Ellie Cannon, wrote in her column that she couldn’t find her own medical records on the app and asked readers to submit their experiences. In response, we received countless emails from readers who said that despite their best efforts, they were unable to use the app, which they described as “useless” and “annoying.”

Janet Higgins, from Lancashire, was astonished to discover that a friend in a town just five miles away could book appointments through the system, but she couldn’t. She said: “I can use the NHS app to order repeat prescriptions – but I can’t book appointments, search my medical records or check test results.

“But my friend has another medical practice and she can look up all her records and make an appointment. It should be available to everyone.”

Mike Lawrence, from Woking, said he can no longer contact his GP by phone, but is unable to book an appointment using the app. “It is supposed to cover many aspects of a GP’s work but for important things like booking appointments it is useless,” he said.

It’s not just patients who are reporting issues with the app. Professor Dame Clare Gerada, former president of the Royal College of GPs, says the NHS app has had many positive uses but it doesn’t allow you to book an appointment with a GP.

“I think the app is fantastic—I can see all my medications and test results,” she says. “But when I look up an appointment, for example, all I can do is book a Pap smear.”

So was the government’s claim that the NHS app could become the main place for booking GP appointments unrealistic – or can the system be improved?

When the app was launched, very few people decided to download it, mainly due to the lack of publicity and understanding of its role.

Just eight million people signed up for the app between January 2019 and May 2021. But when it was announced that the app would display Covid vaccination status, its user base quadrupled. It eventually reached 30 million downloads, making it one of the most popular apps in the country. The surge in popularity came amid suggestions that the government was considering Covid passports, which would require a vaccination to access public venues such as nightclubs and football matches.

However, after these plans were abandoned, the number of people regularly using the app dropped.

The latest figures from NHS England show that while around eight million people logged on in April, just 900,000 ordered repeat prescriptions and a surprisingly low 48,000 made GP appointments – less than one per cent of the seven million that are prescribed on average each week.

Last year, a report published by Parliament’s health and social care select committee warned that the benefits of the app were “not clear to many current users” and that the NHS needed to do more to “demonstrate its ongoing value”. The report added that “current integration of the app with NHS services is limited”.

GP surgeries and hospitals are required to upload the medical records of their NHS patients into the app, including recent tests, prescriptions and diagnoses.

Some experts say the reason key information is missing is because doctors don’t take the time to update patient notes on it.

Others say many GP practices have decided not to use the app for appointments because they fear it will be harmful to patients who do not have it – around one in ten Britons do not have a smartphone and around four million people over the age of 65 do not use the internet.

“It’s not that doctors are reluctant to accept new technology,” says Dr Helen Salisbury, a GP and medical education expert at the University of Oxford. “They’re worried that appointments will be snapped up very quickly – and not necessarily by the people who need them most.”

Instead, Dr Salisbury says it is more efficient for GP practices to book appointments over the phone – because GPs can decide who needs to be seen first, rather than giving the next available slot to the person who logs on to the app first. “Some practices are already overwhelmed with requests for appointments,” he says, “so opening up the system and allowing anyone to make an appointment whenever they want is not a good idea.”

Not all readers are unhappy with the app. Michael Treacher, 75, from Staffordshire, has type 1 diabetes and uses the “very useful” app to book GP appointments and order prescriptions.

Meanwhile, 78-year-old Margaret Jacques says she regularly uses the “helpful” app to keep track of upcoming hospital appointments and order prescriptions.

Most of them, however, say they are happy to use the app but state that there are very few tasks they can accomplish with it.

“I can’t renew my prescription or see my medical records,” says Karen Misselbrook from Southampton. “All I can see is my name, date of birth and Covid vaccination record. It’s a great idea but needs to be improved to actually work.”

An NHS England spokesman said: “We are continuing to improve the app. We know there is more to do and we are committed to supporting all practices and trusts to embed new digital tools that will make it easier for patients to access and allocate appointments.”

• To download the app, go to nhs.uk/nhs-app/