NHS England routinely assesses options for the future technological development of the NHS App. This includes due regard to cost, appropriate use of artificial intelligence, and most importantly how changes will best enhance the service for patients.

A roadmap of future developments is available at the NHS.UK website, in an online only format.

The Government is fully committed to developing the NHS App for the benefit of patients and services in the National Health Service, in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

We have consistently minimised any divergence between code bases and will continue to do so in the future as we develop the NHS App. This helps to optimise the service for patients.

We are continuing to fully develop the NHS App for users as an iOS app, an Android app, and as a website. Where there are any differences between these formats, this can be due to natural differences in design due to different operating systems and conventions or it can also occur as new features are rolled out across formats, one at a time. In the case of the latter, this means any differences may only be temporary.

We are committed to making the NHS App as accessible as possible, whilst at the same time ensuring the software remains safe and secure for use by patients. We review the operating system and browser version policy annually, to determine how best to strike this balance.

We are planning for the delivery of self-care support and guidance via the NHS App to be implemented on a phased basis over the lifetime of the 10-Year Health Plan, and will be piloting artificial intelligence triage into self-care support and guidance via the NHS App in 2027.

Initial capabilities, namely providing trusted health information, symptom guidance, and signposting to appropriate services, will continue to be expanded in the near term, with further enhancements introduced over time. These will include more personalised advice, improved integration with local services, and support for prevention and long-term condition management. The aim for the NHS App is to be routinely used front door for self-care and early intervention during the early years of the Plan.

The Government will monitor the impact of this commitment through a combination of usage metrics, patient outcomes, service impact, and equity of access. Progress will be reported through existing National Health Service performance reporting mechanisms and updates on delivery of the 10-Year Health Plan and Medium Term Planning Framework.

The NHS App is the digital front door to the National Health Service, giving patients greater control and choice over their healthcare and better access to services. The Government currently has no plans to develop the NHS App using the Harmony Operating System (OS) or to assess related devices for accessibility.

Current United Kingdom levels of adoption to HarmonyOS are considered very low when compared to other mobile operating systems and we expect to continue using those systems that are the most accessible and helpful to patients. The NHS App is available through a web browser which provides similar functionality for people who can't directly use the NHS App.

As of 16 March 2026, the GOV.UK App has an estimated total of over 230,000 active users. Analytics tracking captures only those who opt in, so this figure is higher than the number of users providing consent. To date, approximately 135,000 users have consented to analytics tracking, averaging around 23,000 consented users per month.

While the Government has not set formal numerical targets for 2026–27, the strategic aim is to drive sustained growth by making the GOV.UK App the most convenient and trusted way for people to access government services. Growth is expected as new features and services are introduced, alongside improvements in personalisation and ongoing focus on user needs, in line with the Government Digital Service’s roadmap for modern digital government.

The Government is also committed to addressing digital exclusion. The GOV.UK App has been designed to be simple and accessible, informed by user research conducted during its public beta and in line with GOV.UK accessibility standards. Alongside this, the Government will continue to assess the digital skills support needed, including understanding barriers faced by digitally excluded groups and working with departments, local authorities and delivery partners to provide assisted digital support and signposting to digital skills training. Services will continue to be available through multiple channels, ensuring that those who are unable to use digital services can still access government support.

The GOV.UK app is in public beta with expenditure met from within the overall budgets of the Government Digital Service (GDS) as part of the wider GOV.UK modernisation activity.

In 25/26 c.£6.2m has been attributed to GOV.UK app and related programme of personalisation and modernisation - this relates to spend on design, build, test and running. There has been no significant spend on marketing of the app, with less than £2k related to reaching private beta testing audiences.

That seamless movement is an important point generally, but the federated data platform does not centralise or sell patient data. Data remains firmly under NHS control, and access is strictly governed. It is fully auditable and used only for approved patient benefit and NHS benefit. Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of NHS England and it does not, as I said, own or control NHS data. That access is tightly governed. In response to the earlier question, I note that the federated data platform to which the noble Lord refers is cyber resilient and subject to rigorous contractual, legal and information governance controls.

We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experiences for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services.

Centrally built services, such as the NHS App and National Health Service website, are designed to meet international accessibility standards. We are modernising the mobile patient experience within the NHS App, ensuring information is clearly structured and easy to find and understand.

NHS England has successfully run several programmes to support patients, carers, and health service staff with their digital skills. These include:

• the Digital Health Champions programme, a proof of concept to support citizens who have no or low digital skills with understanding how to access health services online;

• the Widening Digital Participation programme, aimed to ensure more people have the digital skills, motivation, and means to access health information and services online; and

• the NHS App ‘Spoken Word’ Pilot project, designed to test the efficacy of promoting NHS digital health products and services in languages other than English.

We have also recruited over 2,000 NHS App ambassadors and 1,400 libraries to help people to learn how to use the NHS App.

NHS England has published a framework for NHS action on digital inclusion and is developing further resources to support practical actions. All programmes are actively considering how they can contribute to improvements in healthcare inequalities and digital inclusion.

We are also developing a national proxy service to grant authorised access for people to manage health care on behalf of other people that are unable to use the NHS App.

There are no current plans to allow patients to directly nominate a distance selling pharmacy (DSP) from within the NHS App. A discovery exercise completed in January 2025 explored this option and concluded that within the current landscape of DSPs there are several challenges that could impact user experience and timely access to medicines. This has been communicated to relevant DSP stakeholders.

The NHS App supports seamless pharmacy services by allowing patients to order repeat prescriptions, nominate their preferred pharmacy, and manage their medication. A new prescription tracker feature means that nearly 1,500 pharmacies are now offering the new prescription tracking service through the NHS App, which provides updates on when prescriptions are ready to be collected. Work has also commenced on an ‘in App’ notification which will enhance this feature further.

There are no current plans to allow patients to directly nominate a distance selling pharmacy (DSP) from within the NHS App. Patients can continue to nominate a DSP through existing routes, which currently provide a more seamless patient experience.

The NHS App supports seamless pharmacy services by allowing patients to order repeat prescriptions, nominate their preferred pharmacy, and manage their medication. A new prescription tracker feature means that nearly 1,500 pharmacies are now offering the new prescription tracking service through the NHS App, which provides updates on when prescriptions are ready to be collected. Work has also commenced on an ‘in App’ notification, which will enhance this feature further.

In relation to nominating distance selling pharmacies (DSPs), users of the NHS App are currently given the option to nominate a ‘high street’ or an ‘online-only’ pharmacy. For those wishing to nominate ‘online-only’ pharmacies, users are directed to the internet pharmacies section, to search for and contact their chosen DSP directly, as key information is required by the DSP before the nomination can be applied.

Data generated by apps and devices may not be used exclusively for the direct care of patients; some data may be generated by a wearable which will be used for a secondary purpose, such as research, but this must happen in accordance with the law. An individual would have to give their consent for the use of their data by a third-party app.

The NHS Federated Data Platform does not access data from the NHS App or wearables.