Library staff across England will help people access online health services, as part of a new NHS England scheme to increase the use of the NHS App.
The commissioner said that work is already underway in a number of libraries across England to support people to get started with the NHS App, and that the new the scheme, run with The National Health Literacy Partnership, will launch in October.
NHS England wants to encourage patients to make use of the app, and earlier this year it launched a campaign focusing on its functionalities including GP record access and test results, repeat prescriptions and viewing appointments already booked.
The new scheme follows pilots run at 14 libraries, which showed that people ‘were happy to be shown how to use NHS.uk by public library staff’.
NHS England said that the scheme ‘will help even more people to access and make the most of their health information online’.
NHS England chief information officer John Quinn, a former librarian, said: ‘Public libraries are at the heart of our communities and offer a significant opportunity to reach those who face barriers when it comes to accessing their health information online.
‘The NHS App has more than 34 million registered users and we want to ensure no-one is excluded from using this service.
‘My first profession was a librarian, and it was amazing training for the role I do today. Librarians have always been at the forefront of providing services to communities and getting information to people at the right time.’
According to NHSE, more than 35 million people have now registered for the NHS App since its launch in 2018, and new figures showed that pensioners are its ‘most active users’, with more than five million having registered and almost half of them having used it in March to May this year.
Figures also showed that 11.6 million repeat prescriptions were ordered via the NHS App in those three months, including 3.1 million by pensioners.
Earlier this 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.
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