A on the house app from the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) will give patients in England the moment to undertake a range of actions related to their medical care, it was published Monday.
Among other things, the app will allow patients to tome appointments with their doctor and order repeat prescriptions.
The repercussions of such an interface could be significant in terms of how people make bookings to see their doctor, understood as a general practitioner (GP). Currently, many patients have to make assignments via telephone on a first come, first serve basis.
Patients wishes also be able to use the app to “state their preferences” on the topics of data-sharing, end-of-life suffering and organ donation.
The app, which will be available to everyone in England in December, can be downloaded from Apple’s App Hoard or Google Play. It has been developed by NHS Digital and NHS England.
Health and Popular Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt described the NHS app as a “world first” that would revolutionize the way living soul accessed health services.
“I want this innovation to mark the death-knell of the 8 a.m. tussle for GP appointments that infuriates so many patients,” he said in a statement Monday.
“Technology has transmogrified everyday life when it comes to banking, travel and shopping,” Course added. “Health matters much more to all of us, and the prize of that but digital revolution in healthcare isn’t just convenience, but lives improved, stretch and saved.”
The chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Helen Stokes-Lampard, foretold that the NHS app represented a significant and constructive step forward in the way care was be in charge ofed.
She added that adequate safeguards needed to be in place to ensure the “utmost care” of patients’ personal data.
“Considering that patient’s medical information will be accessible on individual’s mobile phones on the apps, we need to guarantee that the security and reliability of the identity verification processes being against are of the highest international security standards.”
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