NHS England has announced a new initiative with libraries across the country to help more people access online health services and use the NHS App.
The scheme, in partnership with The National Health Literacy Partnership, will officially launch in October – with NHS England contacting public libraries and NHS libraries in the coming weeks to provide toolkits and information.
It said that libraries already play a vital role in making online services more accessible and, according to a recent survey by Ipsos, librarians are the third most trusted profession in Britain. The plan is provide them with tools and support to help people to use the NHS App.
John Quinn, chief information officer at NHS England, said: “Public libraries are at the heart of our communities and offer a significant opportunity to reach those who face barriers when it comes to accessing their health information online.
“The NHS App has more than 34 million registered users and we want to ensure no-one is excluded from using this service.
“My first profession was a librarian, and it was amazing training for the role I do today. Librarians have always been at the forefront of providing services to communities and getting information to people at the right time.”
Learnings from pilots
Louise Goswami, chief knowledge officer for the NHS in England, said: "We are delighted to see this development with libraries, which builds on the great work we already do with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and public library colleagues, where we have trained 178 health literacy trainers in NHS libraries and run health literacy pilots at 14 public library sites.
“Through these pilots we learned that people were happy to be shown how to use NHS.uk by public library staff, so this phased rollout through public libraries will help even more people to access and make the most of their health information online.”
Work is already underway in a small number of libraries across England to support people to get started with the NHS App. NHS England cited the example of ‘digital cafés’ in libraries in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West organised by the local integrated care board.
Marta Fischer, a digital access lead for the ICB and an ambassador for the NHS App, said: “People find it really easy to use once I talk them through it, they find being able to see test results and their records online helpful.
“Sometimes people presume all those over a certain age can’t use technology, but many of the patients I work with already use apps and appreciate how easy the NHS App makes it to order their repeat prescriptions online and help them keep track of their healthcare.”
Heavy use by pensioners
NHS England added that new figures show that pensioners are the most active users of the NHS App – with more than 5 million having registered with it – and almost half of them having used it in March to May 2024. This compares to around one in four users in their 20s and around one in three users in their 30s.
The NHS App was used by 12 million people during March to May 2024, 2.3 million aged 66 and over.
