NORTH West GP Dr Paula Cowan is urging people to “tap the NHS App” to manage their health care after a survey showed more than 1 in 5 people in the region missed an NHS appointment because they forgot or were late.
The NHS has launched a new campaign urging people to turn on “push alerts” from the NHS App so they get reminders about appointments and can rearrange any they can’t make, helping to free up millions of appointments for others.
A survey has shown that 1 in 3 people from the North West use the NHS App for health records or to order repeat prescriptions, but millions more could be benefitting from the App’s features, which also include getting reminders of upcoming appointments and viewing GP health records.
People can also use the NHS App to cancel GP appointments if they realise they cannot attend.
Using the app makes it quick and easy to order repeat prescriptions and would reduce the need for emergency prescriptions if more people used it.
More than 4.6 million people in the North West have registered for the NHS App and in December 2025, almost 1 million prescriptions were ordered on the App.
However, emergency prescriptions continued to be the top reason for calls to NHS 111, with a total of 14,744 requests, an increase of 3,000 compared to the previous December.
Dr Cowan, regional medical director for Primary Care for NHS England in the North West, said: “It’s great to see that so many people in the North West have registered for the NHS App, but we know many are not fully using it.
“Many patients do not realise how much you can organise through the NHS App, but it is one of the easiest and most convenient ways for patients to keep on top of their appointments, find appointments and order repeat prescriptions.
“We’d love to see more people using their App on their phone or tablet and getting the full benefits of all the great features. By switching on notifications in the settings, people can ‘tap the App’ to stay on top of messages, appointments and reminders and receive them as soon as they’re sent.”
You can download the NHS App or find the same services on the NHS website: www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/
