Tejal Somvanshi
Nearly 400,000 people have used the NHS App’s new prescription tracker in its first 10 weeks, dramatically reducing unnecessary pharmacy visits and phone calls. The feature has been used 715,000 times since its May launch – about once every nine seconds.
The tracker shows patients in real-time if their medicines are “ready to collect” or “dispatched” – similar to online shopping delivery updates. Currently available at around 1,650 high street pharmacies, including all Boots locations in England, the service will expand to 5,000 more pharmacies within 12 months, covering 60% of England’s pharmacies.
For pharmacists, the impact has been immediate. Ryan’s Pharmacy in West Yorkshire, which handles over 30,000 prescription items monthly, saw phone calls drop by around 80% after their system provider Cegedim Rx integrated with the NHS App.
“We thought the lines must have gone down at first,” said pharmacist Yasif Salim. “Normally the phones ring off their hooks with patients asking for updates. Some nights I went to sleep and dreamt of the phones ringing.”
This reduction is significant as nearly half (45%) of all calls to community pharmacies were previously from patients checking if their prescriptions were ready.
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Dr Vin Diwakar, Clinical Transformation Director at NHS England, explained: “For those who rely on regular prescriptions, the tracker offers near real-time updates when medicines are ready. It’s freeing up more time for pharmacists to spend with patients by cutting the number of calls.”
The NHS App now has 37.4 million registered users with 11.4 million monthly logins. Repeat prescription ordering through the app has jumped 46% in a year, with 61.5 million ordered in the last 12 months.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting highlighted the convenience: “No more queuing up at the pharmacy only to find medicines aren’t ready and no more time-consuming phone calls with pharmacy staff.”
While the tracker has been widely praised, Ruth Rankine from NHS Confederation noted an important caution: “We need to remember that not everyone will be able to use tools such as this, so it’s important that we also design our services to reflect the needs of those who need them the most.”
The prescription tracker is part of the government’s 10-year health plan positioning the NHS App as a “digital front door” to health services. Future plans include letting patients book, move and cancel all appointments through the app and using AI to provide instant advice for non-urgent care.
The feature complements the existing barcode collection system, which averages 2.1 million views monthly. Patients with a nominated pharmacy have prescriptions sent electronically, eliminating the need for paper prescriptions.
