New health and social care app to be launched next year

An NHS and social care app designed to change the way patients interact with services in Scotland is to be launched next year.

MyCare.scot will give patients a digital identity and allow them to access personal information and the national service finder system. The service will eventually allow people to booking appointments and check test results.

Dermatology outpatients in Lanarkshire will be first to get access to the app in December, before it is progressively rolled out across the country from April.

The full roll out will take until 2030.

Health Secretary Neil Gray says the service will revolutionise the way people manage and receive healthcare.

“Our initial launch in NHS Lanarkshire will help us ensure the MyCare app is robust, safe, secure, and meets peoples’ needs,” he said.

“I am delighted we will then see a population-wide rollout from April and we have today published a high-level summary rollout plan setting out our approach.”

Government papers show the rollout across Scotland will “take place in stages between 2025 and 2030”, while what are described as “national priority services” will not be in place on the app until 2028.

The launch of the Scottish app comes years after a similar system was introduced south of the border.

NHS England has had an app allowing patients to book appointments, order prescriptions and see their medical records since 2019.

MyCare.scot will eventually integrate with GP practices, pharmacies and social work.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP called the app “half-baked” and asked for clarity on how it will be delivered.

“After years of promising an NHS app, the SNP have still delivered a half-baked version,” he said.

“We have repeatedly called for this to be rolled out to support patients and staff but instead the nationalists have been unable to do the basics and have squandered millions in the process.

“Patients south of the border have been able to use an app for years. Yet in SNP-run Scotland we are still living in the analogue age while everyone else has moved onto digital.”