Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Some patients will be requested to go online before proceeding A&E as part of NHS‘S New digital-first plans.
Health leaders in urgent and emergency care are being urged to move beyond “traditional walk-in” services and expand digital triaging and booking systems.
Three-year roadmap for NHSPublished on Friday, it promises to reduce waiting lists and “eliminate layers of bureaucracy”.
Under plans for urgent and emergency care, which include A&ETelephone and digital booking systems will be expanded “to help patients 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 said. Integrated care boards, which are responsible for planning local NHS services, will have to set out their plans to become digital-first, with the changes to be made during 2026/27.
Also under the plans, 85 percent of people diagnosed with cancer should receive their first treatment within two months of referral.
The target is 95 per cent of all health appointments should also be available through the NHS app.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting Said: “This is a bold transformation of our NHS by the Government. Our ambition is nothing short of the fastest transformation in the history of the health service. Millions of patients will be treated on time, with better cancer outcomes and quicker access to a GP. The NHS will be brought into the digital age, and community care will be given the priority it deserves.”
Sir Jim Mackay, CEO of NHS England, said the plan “sets out a clear route map by which the NHS can meet its commitments to improve access to care and get waiting times back to where patients want and need them.”
Independent Reporting on the impact of the NHS going digital A patient explains how she was diagnosed About life-changing kidney conditions through the app.
Lucy Bradley, 29, was alone at 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 broke my heart,” she said Independent,It should not just flash on the app. No one should be directed to the app for things like this.
He added: “In this modern society, we’re dealing more with automated messages, but when you’re dealing with something so personal, it feels really dehumanizing.”
mr streeting Set expansion plans The government’s 10-year plan says the NHS app will become “a doctor in your pocket, bringing our health service into the 21st century”.