NHS account

The current NHS account features include:

• Ordering repeat prescriptions – patients can see available medicines, request repeats and choose the pharmacy they want prescriptions sent to.
• Booking appointments – patients can search for, book and cancel GP appointments, and view upcoming and past appointments.
• Getting health advice – patients can search trusted NHS information on hundreds of conditions and treatments, or answer questions to get instant advice or find appropriate local care.
• Viewing parts of their health record – patients can see information such as allergies, current and past medicines, and, where enabled by their GP practice, test results and consultation details.
• Registering an organ donation decision – patients can record and update their preferences.
• Managing data sharing preferences – patients can choose how their health record data is used for research and planning.
• Viewing their NHS number – patients can easily find their NHS number.

Additional services are available if a patient’s GP practice or hospital offers them, including:

• Messaging a GP practice or healthcare professional online.
• Consulting a GP or healthcare professional using an online form and receiving a response.
• Accessing NHS services on behalf of someone they care for.
• Viewing hospital and other healthcare appointments.
• Viewing links shared by a doctor or healthcare professional.

Viewing and managing care plans.

The NHS account allows patients to view and change their Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) pharmacy nomination.

This gives patients more control over choosing the pharmacy that is right for them and supports more efficient prescribing and dispensing.

Having a nomination in place means patients do not need to collect paper FP10 prescriptions from GP practices and take them to a pharmacy. This reduces avoidable journeys and helps lower administrative work for pharmacy teams and GP practices.

Patients can choose either:

• A local pharmacy, selected using a postcode; or
• An “online only” pharmacy, also known as a distance selling pharmacy.

To nominate a distance selling pharmacy, patients must usually register with that pharmacy first, either through its website or by contacting it directly. This is because these pharmacies often need additional information beyond basic demographic details to provide an appropriate service when the first prescription arrives.

Community Pharmacy England and the Community Pharmacy IT Group (CP ITG) have supported the development of this feature to make pharmacy nomination simpler for patients using the NHS account.

See also: Nomination.

The NHS account allows patients to request repeat prescriptions online where this has been authorised by their GP practice.

When EPS nomination is in place and the prescription is approved, the prescription can be sent electronically to the patient’s nominated pharmacy. The patient can then collect their medicines or receive them by delivery, depending on the pharmacy’s services.

Many pharmacies, of all sizes, also offer their own online ordering options, such as apps that integrate with NHS systems. These often allow the pharmacy to see repeat order requests directly.

At present, pharmacies are not usually able to see repeat prescription orders made by patients through the NHS App or NHS website. Community Pharmacy England and CP ITG have fed back to the NHS App team that it would be helpful for pharmacies to have visibility of repeat orders for patients who have nominated them. This could help pharmacy teams manage workload and respond more effectively to patient queries.

Further information: Online repeat prescription ordering.

More services are expected to be added to the NHS account over time.

Planned and potential developments include:

• Suggestions of health apps that may benefit patients.
• Promoting digital or face-to-face services available locally.
• Links to GP video consultation options.

Some NHS account features are similar to GP online services that have been available for some time.

GP practices will need to review their IT system settings to make sure patients can access all NHS account functions. If a patient’s practice is not yet live, patients can leave an email address to be notified when access becomes available.

Other NHS account features, such as the NHS 111 online symptom checker and the NHS website health A–Z, are available to all patients, even if their GP practice is not live.

We encourage pharmacy team members to set up and use their own NHS account.

Using the NHS App yourself can help you:

• Understand how patients use the NHS account.
• Anticipate patient questions.

Identify ideas for future improvements that may support pharmacy teams and patients.

Community Pharmacy England and CP ITG continue to work with the NHS account team to explore further developments that could benefit pharmacy owners, pharmacy teams and patients.

If you have suggestions for future features, email Dan Ah-Thion, Community Pharmacy England’s Community Pharmacy IT Policy Manager. Community Pharmacy England will gather feedback and use it to inform discussions with the NHS account team.

Pharmacy team members and Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) can also contact Dan to share any lessons learned from patient experience.

Patient-facing information about the NHS account is available on the NHS website.

IT system suppliers and developers may want to explore opportunities to integrate systems or apps with the NHS App.

Read more:

Guidance for suppliers: NHS App (NHS England)