GPs to ‘prescribe’ apps for patients
pharmafile | February 22, 2012 | News story | Medical Communications | GPs, Lansley, NHS, apps
Family doctors in England could soon be asked to ‘prescribe’ apps to patients to help them manage their medical conditions.
The Department of Health has said it wants GPs to be able to prescribe digital applications to help their patients, after asking the public what kind of apps they would like to see available.
The government received nearly 500 entries and more than 12,600 votes and comments, the entries can be read on the ‘maps and apps’ blog.
The most popular ideas for apps included help to manage long-term disease like diabetes, and to help monitor conditions such as high blood pressure.
More recent ideas have included a contraception choice app, and a ‘Me, Myself and I’ app, which aims to given a “holistic approach to health and wellbeing”.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley said: “I want to make using apps to track blood pressure, to find the nearest source of support when you need it and to get practical help in staying healthy the norm.
“Information about your health is a service – just like the GP surgeries, walk-in centres and hospitals that millions of people access every week. With more information at their fingertips, patients can truly be in the driving seat.
“Innovation and technology can revolutionise the health service, and we are looking at how the NHS can use these apps for the benefit of patients, including how GPs could offer them for free.”
The DH said that last month its website NHS Choices was visited by nearly 15 million people looking for information on health and local services.
Developing smartphone apps is the next step in giving patients the information and advice they need and want to stay healthy, it added.
The government is in the process of developing an Information Strategy to ensure that patients and clinicians have access to meaningful and up-to-date information.
This will give patients more choice over their health, the government said, whilst also giving doctors the information to manage how they deliver local services. The strategy is expected to be published in the spring.
Ben Adams is the reporter for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com. He can be contacted via: email or Twitter.
Related Content
A community-first future: which pathways will get us there?
In the final Gateway to Local Adoption article of 2025, Visions4Health caught up with Julian …
The Pharma Files: with Dr Ewen Cameron, Chief Executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Pharmafile chats with Dr Ewen Cameron, Chief Executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, about …
Is this an Oppenheimer moment for the life sciences industry?
By Sabina Syed, Managing Director at Visions4Health In the history of science, few initiatives demonstrate …
