City is one of only six areas of the country chosen to test the official NHS app for patients which will allow easy access to services such as booking appointments and ordering repeat prescriptions

A new app that will allow NHS patients to book appointments and order repeat prescriptions on their phones and tablets is being trailed in Liverpool.

The city is one of only six areas of the country chosen to test the official NHS app for patients. The announcement was made by Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock.

The new NHS app, which it is hoped will rollout nationally next year, will undergo “beta testing” amongst six GP practices in Liverpool, between now until the end of the year.

Practices already confirmed as taking part in the trial in Liverpool include: Westmoreland GP Centre, Walton Medical Centre, Westminster Medical Centre, Brownlow Health @ Marybone, Oak Vale Medical Centre, and Brownlow Health – with a handful of additional practices to be announced soon.

Patients in each of these practices who agree to take part will be sent a text message from their GP practice inviting them to download the app, providing access to a range of GP services from a personal mobile phone or device. These include:

• Booking and managing appointments
• Ordering repeat prescriptions
• Viewing their medical records online
• Checking symptoms and getting advice
• Signing up to become an organ donor

Afterwards, their experiences of using it will be collected via an email survey and any feedback will be used to help refine the NHS app.

Dr Ian Pawson, a GP at Brownlow Health and part of Liverpool CCG’s Governing Body said: “We’re really excited about being a part of this trial in Liverpool. The NHS App is a really important digital innovation that will offer a number of important benefits to patients and to the NHS. 

“We know that patients can access a range of NHS services electronically already, but often they say they want a more consistent experience, and to have online access to everything related to their health available in one, single place. They also want to be able to use an official NHS product to do it – and that’s what the new NHS app will provide.”

The first wave of testing is already up and running at Walton Medical Centre and at Brownlow Health @ Marybone, with the other pilot practices due to follow shortly. Any registered patients from practices taking part in the trial, can find out more about helping to test the app by contacting their GP surgery directly. 

For more information about the scheme click here.