NHS App has a lot of potential, but expansion needs to be practical and achievable

Responding to the NHS App expansion in the 10 Year Health Plan, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:

“GPs are always open to exploring – and are often early adopters of - new technologies that can improve the experience of patients, and help the service to run more efficiently.

“Many patients, GPs and other colleagues across the NHS will have experienced frustration when key information about a patient’s health cannot be shared easily across different sectors of the health service. The College has long called for greater interoperability of patient records, and this will be crucial to the delivery of the three key shifts in the 10 Year Health Plan. It’s positive to see a focus on this as part of today’s announcement but it will need to be delivered in a practical and achievable way that protects confidentiality and ensures data security.

“The NHS App has a lot of potential for improving the way patients engage with both their health and the health service, and the idea of giving people choice about how they access their care could work well if implemented correctly. Integrated AI within the NHS App could be a useful tool in many respects – but any use of AI to aid diagnosis would have to be evidence-based and rigorously evaluated before it is rolled out for use with patients.

“As a College we’re enthusiastic about the focus on technology outlined in today’s vision, but it can’t be escaped that current NHS IT infrastructure is in urgent need of improvement and while pledges have been made to tackle this, major AI developments still feel a long way off when many GPs are reporting that their basic IT systems are slow, inefficient and can’t communicate with one another effectively. This is why the College has called on the Government for additional ringfenced funding - of at least £2 billion - to address the substantial shortcomings in both our physical and digital infrastructure.”

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.