Millions of NHS patients in England can now track their prescriptions in real time thanks to a new feature in the NHS App, designed to reduce unnecessary calls and visits to pharmacies.
Announced today by NHS England, the feature is already live in nearly 1,500 high street pharmacies, including every Boots branch in England. It allows users to check the status of their prescriptions—whether they are “ready to collect” or “dispatched by pharmacy”—through a simple, Amazon-style update system.
This innovation is expected to significantly reduce the volume of phone calls to community pharmacies, nearly 45% of which are currently from patients asking if their prescriptions are ready. By freeing up pharmacists’ time, the feature enables them to focus more on providing clinical advice and patient care.
The rollout is part of a broader plan to modernise healthcare delivery through the Plan for Change, which aims to cut waiting lists and empower patients through digital tools. The NHS App now boasts 37.4 million registered users, with 11.4 million logging in monthly to manage their healthcare.
The new tracker builds on existing features such as digital prescription barcodes—viewed 2.1 million times per month—and the ability to order repeat prescriptions, which has surged by 40% in the past year.
Patients are also being encouraged to use the app over the bank holiday weekend to order repeat prescriptions and access medical advice, helping to ease pressure on urgent care services.
NHS England’s Clinical Transformation Director, Dr Din Diwakar, commented :
“We know that people want more control over how they manage their healthcare and the new prescription tracking feature in the NHS App offers exactly that.
“You will now get a near real-time update in the app that lets you know when your medicine is ready so you can avoid unnecessary trips or leaving it until the last minute to collect.
“The new Amazon-style feature will also help to tackle the administrative burden on pharmacists, so that they can spend more of their time providing health services and advice to patients rather than updates on the status of their prescriptions.”
Over the next 12 months, the feature will expand to 5,000 more pharmacies, covering 60% of all pharmacies in England. It complements recent government efforts to support patients during the cost-of-living crisis, including the freezing of prescription charges for the first time in three years.
This is just one of many planned improvements to the NHS App, which will soon offer more appointment options and greater patient choice—putting people firmly in control of their healthcare.
Image credit: iStock
