Digital Health

Owned and run by the NHS, the NHS App is a simple and secure way to access a range of NHS services on your smartphone or tablet.

The NHS App is available now on iOS and Android. To use it you must be aged 13 and over and registered with a GP surgery in England.

Find out more here 

GP online is a national programme developed by NHS England which allows you to take control of your GP appointments through your smartphone, tablet or computer. It’s a free service available to everyone who is registered with a GP.

You can use a website or app to:

• book or cancel appointments with a GP or nurse
• order repeat prescriptions
• view parts of your GP record, including information about medication, allergies, vaccinations, previous illnesses and test results
• view clinical correspondence such as hospital discharge summaries.

This programme was created in response to patients finding the management of GP appointments and repeat prescriptions difficult and time-consuming. Each time a patients uses GP online, they help GP practice’s to spend more time on improving patient care. Five out of the eight boroughs in NW London saved a total of 1,460 days in administration time by appointments being booked through GP online.

How to book, cancel and change appointments

To book, cancel and change appointments you must first be registered with GP online services. Click here for more information on how to register.

Need help using GP online?

Training sessions will be taking place across NW London and are open to anyone who wants to know more. Please see the digital citizen education programme section below for more information.

With over 137,000 health apps available in mobile app stores it can be hard to know which ones to trust and how to use them. To meet this challenge, a digital education programme was set-up in April 2018 to teach residents across NW London how to use digital health services. 

The goal is to empower as many residents as possible to become ‘digital citizens’ - people who can confidently use digital health services to manage their health. This can be achieved by:

1. teaching a group of volunteers how to use digital health services
2. once trained, volunteers become 'digital ambassadors' - responsible for training residents who need support using digital health services
3. arrange one hour training sessions for 'digital ambassadors' to teach residents about different apps and programs
4. once residents are trained and feel confident using digital health services, they become 'digital citizens'. 

The training sessions are free and cover the following apps and programs:

• Patient apps
• Know Diabetes website
• My COPD
• GP online
• online consultations
• smart devices/wearable’s to help manage your health.

Mobile devices are provided during the sessions to make the training interactive.

Want to get involved?

If you would like to volunteer to be a ‘digital ambassador’ and be trained so you can deliver one hour training sessions to residents in NW London, please email Digitalcitizen.nwl@nhs.net and provide the following information:

• full name
• contact mobile number and email address
• a brief description on why you are interested in digital health services.

Please write ‘digital ambassadors’ in the subject line.

Alternatively, if you would like to become a ‘digital citizen’, and learn how to use digital health services to manage your health, please email Digitalcitizen.nwl@nhs.net and provide the following information:

• full name
• contact mobile number and email address
• a brief description of what apps and programs you need support with.

Please write ‘digital citizen’ in the subject line.

The Care Information Exchange provides service users with secure access to parts of their records from: 

• All hospitals in the four North West London acute NHS trusts 
• Social care in Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster local authorities 
• An increasing number of GP practices 

Information available may include results of scans and tests; letters and discharge summaries; past and future appointments; and social care packages. The Care Information Exchange service is provided by Patients Know Best. 

Any patient registered with a GP practice can register for the Care Information Exchange at any time using the NHS login on the web. There are instructions for this on the CIE website: https://www.careinformationexchange-nwl.nhs.uk/who-it-is-for. Registration and access to the Care Information Exchange via the NHS app is available to patients with GP practices in North West London and North East London boroughs. 

You can find patient and clinician stories on the Care Information Exchange website at: https://www.careinformationexchange-nwl.nhs.uk/what-it-means-for-you 

The London Care Record gives health and care professionals read-only access to clinical information about their patients from health and care organisations across  London. It is part of the OneLondon programme for pan-London shared records. 

London Care Record also enables frontline staff to see any care plans a person might have helping to ensure people’s care preferences are respected. You can find out more about the Universal Care Plan here.

It is accessed by professionals from the digital patient record they use every day.  The data available includes: 

• GP practice data from all NW London GP practices 
• Hospital data from acute trusts 
• Mental health data from West London NHS Trust 
• Urgent and end of life care plans 

All health and care professionals in acute hospital, community care, mental health and primary care should all have access to the London Care Record by end 2023.