NHS Direct’s mobile phone app has become a big hit with users, providing health advice to over one million patients in its first six months.
The app was released for smartphones at the end of May 2011. It immediately flew to Number One spot on the iTunes list of top free apps. Demand was so great to begin with that the download service had trouble coping.
Chief operating officer Ronnette Lucraft said: “More people now access NHS Direct’s services online than they do over the phone and it is our aim to continue to provide our services in places that patients and the public will find useful and convenient.
“The mobile app is a more discreet and less embarrassing way of seeking health advice for sensitive issues in public or crowded places. We know that people also value the ability to request a call-back from a nurse if it is required, which is why the app is fully integrated with our phone service.”
The app includes access to 40 health and symptom checkers covering a wide range of problems including dental pain, diarrhoea and vomiting, abdominal pain, rashes, back pain and burns. Patients can also get advice about how to relieve symptoms associated with specific conditions such as flu and hay fever. There’s also the opportunity to get more specialist advice on issues such as mental health, contraception, sexual health matters and pregnancy problems.
Users have praised the free app. Vicky Wood from Milton Keynes commented:
“Having a young family, it’s really helpful to be able to access health advice quickly. I’ve used the NHS Direct telephone service before, and I regularly use the online tools when I’m at home, so it was great to be able to access their advice away from home through my mobile. I found the explanations of why I was being asked certain questions really useful, and the function to expand information on certain symptoms meant that I could quickly understand anything I’d not come across before.
“I have found that rashes on the kids can look very different when they first appear to a day or so later, so being able to save the self-care advice onto my phone to refer back to on another day would give me additional reassurance and prevent me needing to seek a second opinion from my GP or walk-in centre.”
Outcomes from the mobile app can include instant on-screen self-care advice or advice on the most appropriate course of action. Patients can save any self-care advice they receive back to the app or email it to themselves so that they can access it easily at a later date. The app is linked to NHS Direct’s telephone service and, if a further assessment is recommended, users will be able to submit their contact details so that an NHS Direct nurse advisor can call them back.
The NHS Direct app is available to download free of charge. The health and symptom checkers that are available through the app are also available online on the NHS Direct website.