Sarwar Pledges to Deliver Working NHS App Within a Year
A Scottish Labour government will deliver a functional NHS app within a year, Anas Sarwar has said today.
The Scottish Labour leader has made a commitment to “end SNP dither and delay” and deliver a functioning NHS app as a priority.
Under Scottish Labour’s plans, a Scotland-wide app will be available within the first 100 days, available in every health board area allowing patients to see their records and get health advice. Within a year patients, will be able to use this app to book GP appointments and order prescriptions.
Scottish Labour will work to accelerate the delivery of the existing Scottish app, or if necessary work with English and Welsh governments to adopt their apps for Scottish use.
The SNP has faced criticism over the slow rollout of its NHS app and for citing “political optics” as a reason to take a different approach to NHS England.
As it stands the Scottish app is limited to dermatology services in NHS Lanarkshire, with some kind of “limited functionality” expected to be made available more widely soon and “incremental” progress to be made subsequently.
Scottish Labour pledged to embrace cutting edge of technology to improve our NHS – in contrast to the slow progress under “analogue John” and the SNP.
Commenting, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said “After nearly two decades of SNP government, hospital staff are still relying on pagers, GPs are using fax machines and patients are still waiting for a working NHS app.
“John Swinney and the SNP can’t even get the basics right, let alone unleash the full potential of technology.
“A Scottish Labour government led by me will embrace cutting edge technology and use it to make our NHS fit for the future.
“We will end the SNP’s dither and delay and deliver an NHS app that actually works within a year.
“The choice in May is between an SNP government stuck in the past led by Analogue John Swinney, or a government focussed on the future led by me.”
Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said “Our NHS is on life support but the SNP has no vision or ideas for the future.
“The SNP’s failure to modernise our NHS is piling pressure on services and making it harder for patients to access the care they need.
“We need to embrace technology and the benefits it can deliver for patients – from delivering an app that actually works to upgrading the system and equipment our NHS relies on.”
Scottish Labour will fasttrack a fully functional NHS app that gives patients easier access to NHS services, working with England and Wales if necessary, who have already rolled-out these services. We will create a shared health and care record so patients don’t need to needlessly explain their medical history to different clinicians, make Scotland’s NHS estate (including General Practice) fit for the future, improving IT infrastructure and reducing bureaucracy, and expand virtual care and remote monitoring of conditions to reduce unnecessary follow-up appointments and prioritise those that need to be seen.
We will do this by speeding up the roll-out of an NHS app and patient portal, prioritising the delivery of e-prescribing and ensuring the new app delivers repeat prescription ordering and online booking of GP appointments within 12 months, expediting plans for the Digital Health and Care Record, and establishing a dedicated digital health adoption fund, allowing NHS patients and staff to benefit from the latest clinically proven digital health technologies.