Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure patients receive timely updates about the status of their NHS operations through (a) the NHS App, (b) other digital platforms and (c) other means.

The National Health Service continues to invest heavily in the NHS App, and in the past two years we have been implementing digital integration between acute hospitals and the NHS App, meaning that patients can now view their clinical pathway and appointments via the NHS App. We continue to work with hospital trusts to maximise the opportunities available to update patients via the NHS App, which is a key part of the 10-year plan to reform the NHS.

The NHS App has now been adopted by 88% of acute trusts, up nearly 20% since July 2024, which enables patients to view and manage their hospital appointments.

Analysis shows that hospitals that make the changes to plug their systems and processes into the NHS App key app features have improved elective care waiting times.