NHS App saved 400,000 hours of GP time last year, NHS England claims

GP time equivalent to more than 400,000 hours was saved through the use of the NHS App last year, NHS England has claimed.

NHSE chief executive Amanda Pritchard explained that the commissioner invested in ‘new tech and digital capabilities’ in ‘recent years’ – including the NHS App – with a view to improve productivity in general practice, in a letter to the parliamentary health and social care committee.

The letter followed a session earlier this year where Ms Pritchard was grilled by MPs on the committee about NHS England’s response to a report from the Public Accounts Committee which concluded there had been a lack of ‘fresh thinking’ and ‘decisive action’ to meet policy ambitions to shift care away from hospital to the community.

After the session, committee chair Layla Moran said they had been left ‘disappointed and frustrated’, and the committee requested further information from the commissioner, specifically on productivity and technology.

In her letter, Ms Pritchard explained that following the ‘very significant drop’ in productivity during the Covid pandemic, there has been ‘positive acute productivity growth’ in each year since 2020/21 – averaging above 2% for the last three years.

The 2024 Spring Budget had set NHS England a challenge of delivering average productivity growth of 1.9% per year, and Ms Pritchard said that 0.7% of that would come from ‘enabling technology and digital transformation’.

Ms Pritchard said: ‘The investment in the NHS App and other patient-facing services has already freed up 416,000 hours of GP time, and 99,000 hours of nursing time, in addition to 3.2 million hours of administrative time, through enabling patients to directly manage their secondary referrals and appointments.’

According to the letter, this was the result of 2.5 million test result-related GP appointments ‘avoided’, ‘equal to 416,000 hours saved or £141m in cost of time saved’.

NHS England confirmed to Pulse that the figures refer to nine months from April to December 2024.

Ms Pritchard added that other priorities to improve productivity included asking every GP practice ‘to enable all core NHS App capabilities’, including health record access, online consultations, appointment management, prescription management, online registration, and patient messaging.

Doctors’ Association GP spokesperson Dr Steve Taylor told Pulse that the figures were a ‘huge overstatement’ of the impact of the NHS App on GP time.

He said: ‘NHS England stated to the health and social care committee that 416,000 hours of GP time had been saved by use of the NHS App. They had based this on 2.5 million test results being visible and therefore patients not needing a GP appointment.

‘This is a huge overstatement of the likely impact of the app. Although the app is undoubtedly good for patients, the fact that results can be easily seen also means an increase in some questions to GPs, particularly uncertainty what a test was, borderline results and a reduction in others where tests are normal.

‘In fact GPs are now getting questions about hospital tests, that they have not ordered, which would normally only be discussed at a hospital follow-up appointment.

‘It is likely the app is not saving appointments and certainly not in the numbers extrapolated by NHS England.’

It comes after NHS England launched efforts to encourage the use of the app, including a campaign last year focusing on its functionalities such as GP record access and test results, repeat prescriptions and viewing appointments already booked. Library staff across England were also involved to help people access it and increase the use of the app.

Last year, NHS England claimed that up to 20% of calls to GP practices ‘could be resolved’ through NHS App features for referrals.

And the commissioner also said that sending messages to patients via the NHS app rather than over text or letter has saved the NHS £1.1m.