England's NHS App Gains Digital Prescription Services

NHS App users in England can now collect medication from a pharmacy without having to contact a GP or health center to get a paper prescription, according to NHS Digital.

nhs digital prescription
From today, patients in England can use the NHS App to view all their prescription details, order repeat prescriptions, and generate a barcode for medication collection. The barcode replaces the traditional paper slip given by doctors.

The national rollout follows a successful pilot in late 2023. Since then, over 1 million patients have used the app to view their prescriptions. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told the BBC the update would "ease pressures on our hardworking pharmacists and GPs - freeing up valuable time for patients and helping to cut waiting lists."

The new functionality allows patients to see the medication prescribed, the prescription type (repeat or one-off), and who the prescribing professional is. Patients who don't have a nominated pharmacy can generate a prescription barcode for collection. The app also now shows average local hospital waiting times for elective treatment, such as hip replacements.

Accessing Digital Prescriptions in the NHS App

  1. Tap your health at the bottom of the screen
  2. Select view and manage prescriptions.
  3. Select Your approved prescriptions.
  4. Tap the green button on the prescription you want to view.

nhs app
NHS Digital says future developments for the service are now being explored, including prescription tracking to tell patients when medications are ready for collection.

Announced in 2018, the NHS Digital app allows more than 33 million registered users to view their health record from their GP and manage hospital appointments. The NHS app is available on iOS devices through the App Store, as well as on Android phones via Google Play.

Popular Stories

10

Apple to Launch New Products Starting Next Week, Claims Dubious Leak [Updated]

Friday October 10, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Update: the Naver account appears to be referencing a speculative post on X by Vadim Yuryev, dated October 6. The original article follows. Apple will announce new products through a series of press releases beginning as soon as next week, according to a dubious claim posted on the Korean blog Naver. The Naver blog account yeux1122, which aggregates rather than originates Apple...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 18 Pro Already Rumored to Have These 6 New Features

Saturday October 11, 2025 10:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still nearly a year away, a handful of new features and changes have already been rumored for the devices. Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. Smaller Dynamic Island The standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18 Pro, and iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with a slightly smaller Dynamic Island, but the devices will...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Preparing iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones

Saturday October 11, 2025 6:59 pm PDT by
Apple's software engineers are internally testing iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will likely be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released within the next few weeks. Last month, Apple released iOS...
Tim Cook MacBook

Apple's Next CEO Identified

Wednesday October 8, 2025 12:30 pm PDT by
Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus remains the "leading contender" to become the company's next CEO, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Ternus is 50 years old, so he is still young enough to have a long run at the helm of Apple, after current CEO Tim Cook retires. He is already a key decision-maker at Apple, according to Gurman, and he appears to have a charismatic...
vivo liquid glass

iOS 26 Liquid Glass Design Copied by Android Smartphone Maker

Thursday October 9, 2025 4:07 pm PDT by
Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has taken some inspiration from Apple's Liquid Glass design language for its latest operating system update, OriginOS 6. Unveiled this week, OriginOS 6 has the same rounded buttons and translucent glass look as iOS 26. In a demo video, a Vivo smartphone features an interface that could be easily mistaken for iOS 26. There's a Liquid Glass clock, Control Center,...
10

Apple Event This October? Here's the Latest on What to Expect

Thursday October 9, 2025 7:00 am PDT by
While it is unclear if Apple will host an October event this year, or stick to press releases, rumors suggest it will announce several new products this month. The graphic for Apple's "Unleashed" event in October 2021 Below, we have recapped everything to know about a potential Apple event this October. When The table below outlines when Apple teased its October launches over the past...
apple invite colorado%402x

Apple Hosts Unusual Colorado Event to Showcase Latest Hardware

Thursday October 9, 2025 1:17 pm PDT by
Apple has invited a group of social media influencers to Colorado this week for an unusual event involving group hiking, trail running, and other outdoor activities designed to showcase the company's recently launched iPhone 17 Pro Max, AirPods Pro 3, and Apple Watch Ultra 3. An invitation was shared on X (Twitter) by photographer Johnny Hawk, featuring a simple message: "Hi Johnny. We're so ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Apple Rumored to Launch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip Before M5 Pro and M5 Max Models

Friday October 10, 2025 1:18 pm PDT by
Apple is planning to release a base MacBook Pro with a standard M5 chip before higher-end models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, according to AppleInsider's sources with "knowledge of macOS Tahoe development and hardware testing." The report said a MacBook Pro with an M5 chip is "nearing release," and Apple has apparently been testing this model with an unreleased macOS 26.0.2 version....

Top Rated Comments

nnoble Avatar
22 months ago
Great. All we need now is access to elusive GPs.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
User 6502 Avatar
22 months ago

Old old news. It’s been this way in Finland for years.
The NHS does not operate in Finland so it is not ‘old news’ that the NHS implemented these changes. If tomorrow the Finnish healthcare system introduced something that had been available elsewhere for years it would be newsworthy. If the United States introduced universal and free healthcare at the point of use this would also be newsworthy and not ‘old news’ just because it’s been that way for years in many other countries.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ForkHandles Avatar
22 months ago
Whilst it’s brilliant to see our amazing, free at the point of need, nationalised, socialised, healthcare system is making access easier, I don’t quite understand why it’s featured on this website. It’s an app, it’s a web browser, nothing to do with the Apple ecosystem.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coffeeboat Avatar
22 months ago
For anyone confused and thinking this already existed: The NHS app already allowed for requesting repeat prescriptions and having them sent directly to a nominated pharmacy.

This change allows the prescription to be sent to your phone in the form of a barcode, allowing you to go to any pharmacy (in the same way as you would with a paper form).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Leeshore21 Avatar
22 months ago
This is old news. The functionality has been available since before 2021
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kirky29 Avatar
22 months ago
I just use Lloyds Pharmacy, my prescriptions automatically get delivered to my door every month for free.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)