Some patients will be urged to go online before heading to A&E as part of the NHS’s new digital-first plans.
Health chiefs in Urgent and Emergency Care are being urged to move way from “traditional walk-in” services and expand digital triaging and booking systems.
The three-year roadmap for the NHS, published on Friday, has promised to slash waiting lists and “strip out layers of bureaucracy”.
Under plans for Urgent and Emergency Care, which includes A&E, telephone and digital booking systems will be expanded to “support patients to access the right care, in the right setting, at the right time”.
“This will help protect emergency departments for the most unwell patients and address crowding,” the roadmap says. Integrated Care Boards, who are responsible for planning local NHS services, will have to set out their plans to become digital-first, with changes to be made throughout 2026/27.
Also under the plans, 85 per cent of people with a cancer diagnosis should receive their first treatment within two months of a referral.
A target of 95 per cent of all health appointments should also be available via the NHS app.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said: “This is the bold change this government promised in our NHS. Our ambition is nothing short of the fastest turnaround in the history of the health service. Millions more patients will be treated on time, with better cancer outcomes and quicker access to GPs. The NHS will be brought into the digital age, and community care will be given the priority it deserves”.
Sir Jim Mackey, CEO of NHS England, said that plan “creates a clear route map by which the NHS can meet its commitments on improving access to care and get waiting times back to where patients want and need them to be.”
The Independent has been reporting on the impact of the NHS’s move to digital, with one patient telling how she was diagnosed with a life-changing kidney condition through the app.
Lucy Bradley, 29, was alone at her home in Hertfordshire when she read on the NHS app that she had stage 3 kidney disease - a condition she didn’t even know she was being tested for.
“It made my heart sink,” she told The Independent. “It shouldn’t just flash up on the app. No one should be directed to the app for things like this.”
She added: “In this modern society, we’re dealing more with automated messages, but when you’re dealing with something so personal, it really did feel dehumanising.”
Mr Streeting set out plans for an expansion of the NHS app in the government’s 10-year plan, saying it would “become a doctor in your pocket, bringing our health service into the 21st century”.
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