The NHS App: What It Does and How to Use It
The NHS App is the NHS’s main digital front door. It lets you order repeat prescriptions, view your GP health record and test results, book and manage appointments, check referrals, and message your GP practice — from your phone, without calling the surgery. It is used by tens of millions of people in England, and the government’s 10 Year Health Plan proposes making it the default front door to the NHS by 2028. This guide explains what the app does, how to set it up, and what to do if you cannot use a smartphone.
The NHS App in numbers
There were 42,170,269 all-time NHS App account registrations up to the end of July 2026 — 9% more than in July 2025 — and 15,409,367 distinct users logged in during July 2026 alone. In September 2026, 6.3 million patients ordered about 7.8 million repeat prescriptions through the app. If you are registered with a GP in England, the app is almost certainly already available to you.
What the app is for
The NHS App was launched in 2019 and expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it became the way millions of people showed their vaccination status. Since then it has grown into a general-purpose tool for managing your NHS care. It is for people registered with a GP in England, and it is free to download and use.
The app brings together services that used to need separate phone calls, letters, or visits. Instead of ringing the surgery to order a repeat prescription, you can order it in the app and track it. Instead of waiting for a letter about a hospital appointment, you can check your referrals and appointments in the app. And instead of phoning for a test result, you can often see it in your GP health record as soon as the practice has filed it.
Setting it up and proving who you are
To use the full app, you need to prove your identity. You can usually do this inside the app with photo ID and a short video of your face, or your GP practice can confirm your identity for you. You will also need an email address and a mobile number. Once identity is confirmed, the app links to your GP record.
Some features need an extra step. Viewing your full GP health record, including test results and documents, usually requires your practice to switch on full record access for you. If you can see only part of your record, ask the practice — it is a setting on their system, not a fault in the app.
Ordering repeat prescriptions
Ordering repeat prescriptions is the app’s most-used feature. In September 2026, 6.3 million patients ordered about 7.8 million repeat prescriptions through the app. You choose the items you need, choose a pharmacy, and the prescription goes to the pharmacy electronically. You can also track the prescription and, at many pharmacies, get alerts when it is ready.
Prescription tracking was live at 3,210 pharmacy sites by the end of July 2026, and about 2.9 million people have used prescription alerts, with more than 9 million uses since the feature launched. If your prescription is not a repeat — if it is a new medicine, or the dose has changed — you will still need to speak to your GP first, because the app can only repeat what has already been prescribed.
Viewing records, results, and referrals
The app lets you view your GP health record, including your medicines, allergies, and test results, and — since 29 April 2026 — it is linked to every acute NHS trust in England. That means hospital patients can check their referrals and appointments in the app too: about 64% of hospital appointments are now visible through it, and there were 8.7 million referral and appointment views in March 2026, up 93% on the year before.
Seeing a test result in the app does not mean you have to interpret it yourself. If a result worries you, or you do not understand what it means, contact your GP practice. The app shows the information; only your clinician can explain what it means for you.
Appointments and messages
You can book and manage GP appointments in the app where your practice offers it, and you can see hospital appointments too. You can also message your GP practice through the app — in September 2026, 48.1 million messages were sent through it in a single month. Messaging is useful for non-urgent questions, admin, and follow-ups; it is not for emergencies.
If you need urgent help, do not wait for a message reply. The guide on NHS 111 explains when to call 111 and when to call 999. The app is a convenience for routine care, not a replacement for urgent services.
If you cannot use a smartphone
Not everyone can, or wants to, use a smartphone app, and the NHS knows it. The same services are available by other routes: you can phone your GP practice to order a repeat prescription or book an appointment, you can ask the practice for paper copies of letters and results, and you can use the NHS website on a computer.
By the end of May 2026 there were 41.6 million NHS App registrations — around 7 in 10 people in England — which means around 3 in 10 people are not using it. If you are one of them, you are not missing out on care, only on convenience. And if you help someone else — a parent, a partner, or a person you care for — ask their GP practice about proxy access, which lets you use the app on their behalf with their permission.
Sources: NHS England Digital, NHS App statistics, July 2026; Healthwatch North Northamptonshire, NHS App Hot Topic report, September 2026; NHS England, 10 Year Health Plan.