SCOTLAND'S new NHS app has been launched, with the SNP pledging the party will "never let the US tech giant Palantir get its hands on Scotland’s NHS".
The MyCare.scot app is now available to download on smartphones, and it currently allows patients to view their medications and allergies, check their vaccination history, and use the national service finder to locate local health and wellbeing services.
In future, patients should be able to use the app to keep track of appointments, book appointments with their GP, receive test results and order repeat prescriptions.
It comes after the Scottish Labour leader pledged to work with NHS England to increase digitisation across NHS Scotland as one of his key Holyrood election pledges.
However, the contract to perform this in NHS England was awarded to tech giant Palantir, which has been accused of profiting off of the genocide in Gaza.
Palantir's co-founder Peter Thiel has also come under fire for his comments around the NHS, which he said needed "ripping from the ground" and starting over, along with a 22-point manifesto published by Palantir that was condemned as "evil" and "disturbing".
When fully delivered, the Scottish Government said it will provide the “most comprehensive” health and care app in the UK, integrating health and social care services into one space.
With the app having been developed by Public Services Delivery Scotland, Health Secretary Angela Constance said it was important the work had been carried out by the public sector, saying this was “about security of information but also about value for money for taxpayers”.
SNP MSP Michelle Campbell added: "Unlike in England, where Westminster has let sinister tech giants like Palantir get their hands on the NHS, Scotland’s NHS will never be up for sale under the SNP.
“That’s why this app has been developed within the public sector, to protect the privacy of patient medical records and ensure best value for taxpayers rather than shareholders in Florida.
“With one of the frontrunners to be the next Labour prime minister being bankrolled by private healthcare companies and Nigel Farage desperate to sell the NHS to the highest bidder, it is clear that the future of Scotland’s NHS is only safe under the SNP.”
While NHS England has had its health app in place since 2019, Constance said that platform is having to undergo a “complete rebuild”.
She added that MyCare.scot has been specifically “built for Scotland’s NHS”.
The Health Secretary spoke to patients who have already been using a web-based version of the app in NHS Lanarkshire, where it has been trialled in dermatology services, during a visit to University Hospital Wishaw on Wednesday.
Speaking to press afterwards, Constance said the app – which has cost more than £17 million to develop – is an “important step forward”.
She said: “From today people will be able to access personal information, a list of their medications, allergy history and vaccination history.
“But the important point is about how this will be developed as we go forward, people will be able to access more information and in the fullness of time it will help with the efficiency of services, access to services and also importantly reduce people’s need to constantly retell their own story.
“The ambition is over the course of this Parliament to be able to move to a national booking system. That of course is about easing pressure on GPs and other services, but also about making it easier for patients.
“I think it will make a huge difference to people because we have all now got used to being able to access information instantly on our phones or our devices, and the important basis of this app is about secure information, it’s about accurate information, and it is about making services more accessible to patients and improving that overall patient journey.”
While patients may be able to receive test results on the app in future, Constance said it will not replace personal care when a difficult diagnosis is given.
She said: “As much as I am a great advocate for improving technology and using technology to get quicker access to information, it will never replace face-to-face contact or support for people, and depending on the nature of a result or a test, people will still have to be contacted either by phone or face-to-face.”
Her comments came as the Scottish Government came under fire for the time it has taken to develop the app.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “It is welcome that progress is finally being made by the Scottish Government in embracing new technology in our health service, however this is almost a decade behind the launch of the NHS app in England.
“After years of dither and delay, SNP ministers are only now starting to catch up. It is regrettable that patients in Scotland have to wait even longer before they are able to do basic things like book appointments and order prescriptions.
“This needs to be a top priority for the Scottish Government.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “The SNP have some brass neck patting themselves on the back in this announcement.
“The rest of the UK has had a fully functioning NHS app since 2020, yet the nationalists want praise for being years behind schedule.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Adam Harley said: “I am pleased this app is finally being rolled out but patients have been waiting far too long to get to this stage, and it will be another four years until it is fully rolled out.
“Patients in England have been able to book appointments, order prescriptions and see their medical records on an equivalent app since 2019.”
