The region’s Deputy Medical Director is reminding people to use the NHS App and its wide range of functions to make sure they have easy access to healthcare over the festive season.

Dr Jonathan Slade, NHS England’s Deputy Medical Director in the North East and Yorkshire, and a practicing GP in Stockton-on-Tees (pictured right), says: “We want to remind everyone of how the NHS App can help you access NHS services. If you’re thinking about your health you can use the NHS App to view your GP record including test results. You can also use it to book and manage your upcoming appointments.”

The NHS App is available 24 hours a day for everything from ordering a repeat prescription to checking advice on a medical condition, so you can ensure your Christmas isn’t ruined because you have run out of vital medicines.

People can use the NHS App to manage their medications, seek health advice, check hospital and GP appointments and get involved in improving the NHS. New features are being added to the App regularly as the NHS encourages more people to use it in their everyday lives. Latest data shows people aged 50 to 70 years logged in to use the app 19.3 million times last month – an 80% increase on November 2023.

Earlier this month the NHS set out reforms to ensure more women can make the most of cancer screening at the touch of a button, announcing the rollout of a new “ping and book” service that will send alerts to phones to remind women they are due or overdue an appointment, to help improve uptake and save thousands of lives. The plans began with invitations for breast screening being sent directly through the NHS App and will be expanded to include cervical screening in spring next year, with new functionality being developed to enable millions to book screening through the app.

NHS App ambassadors champion the app among colleagues and patients, promoting its many benefits and helping users to understand how to use the app’s features.

NHS App ambassador Lianne Jerome is Digital and Transformation Lead at Yorkshire Health Partners, which works with 23 member GP practices spanning across seven Primary Care Networks in the East Riding and Hull to support independent partner led primary care.

Lianne (pictured) says: “It’s important we look after ourselves. You can use your NHS App to order your repeat prescriptions well in advance – and select the pharmacy you wish to collect them from. You can also do this for people you care for.”

Dr Slade added: “I would encourage anyone who doesn’t have the NHS App on their phone, or has not used it for a while, to use the app this Christmas to help them stay well over the festive season. Please continue to use A&E and 999 in life-threatening emergencies or use 111 online through the NHS App for less urgent conditions.”