Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure the whole population, particularly those who are not natural users of smartphones, are able to access and use the services from the NHS app by 2028.

The Government is committed to delivering digital services that are accessible to all patients and has established a national change programme to ensure the NHS App is accessible to the whole population by 2028, including those who do not routinely use smartphones.

As part of its 10-Year Health Plan, the Government has tasked National Health Service integrated care boards and providers with mitigating any digital exclusion through operational guidance, proactively offering NHS App communications while maintaining high quality non-digital options such as letters, phone, and face to face contact.

Furthermore, the NHS App is co-designed and tested with people from deprived and inclusion groups, including blind and visually impaired users, as well as people with low digital confidence.

Practical support is being expanded through public libraries, where NHS App guidance and staff support are provided, alongside training for frontline NHS staff and an NHS App Ambassadors programme that runs sessions in general practices, libraries, and community centres across England. Of course, the NHS App is also accessible through the NHS website.