NHS app to begin rollout by end of year, John Swinney confirms

First Minister John Swinney has confirmed a Scottish health and social care app will be in place by 2026.

Delivering a speech on NHS renewal at Heriot Watt University’s National Robotarium, Swinney said the Digital Front Door initiative will be delivered in phases, first rolled out in Lanarkshire.

He described the app as a “much-needed addition to improve patients’ interaction with the NHS” but failed to detail what attributes or features the app will include.

It comes five years after an NHS app was deployed in England, and around two years since Wales launched its version.

Swinney said: “This Digital Front Door will begin rollout from the end of this year, starting in Lanarkshire, and, over time, it will become an ever more central, ever more important access and management point for care in Scotland.”

It forms part of his government’s plan to use innovation to create “smarter and better” care.

He pledged to create centres of excellence to “capitalise on the technological innovation and the potential” of artificial intelligence, improve data use and expand introduce digital support across other specialities.

“Better use of data will ensure that more operating theatres are working at maximum capacity, with best practice approaches, approaches shown to increase productivity by 20 per cent , rolled out across the country.

“Using existing capacity, more operations will be delivered – enabling us to also deliver shorter waiting times.

“The latest innovations in genetic testing will be harnessed to enable better targeting of medications in cases ranging from recent stroke patients to new-born infants with bacterial infections.”

He added: “Building on the already successful model of digital support for mental health – a service that saw 74,000 referrals in 2023-24 – we will offer suport in additional areas including dermatology and the management of long-term conditions.

“This type of care, because it is not dependent on physical attendance, at a specific time, in a specific place, is more flexible.

“It means care can be made to fit better into the lives of those who use the services.”

The news comes amid a digital skills crisis, with an Audit Scotland report showing one in six Scottish adults lack the digital skills needed for everyday life.

However, the first minister said his government was working on measures to avoid digital exclusion and ensure patients have “a variety of different methods of access to technology.”

He added: “We’ve got to make sure that any reforms we take forward meet the needs of everybody – which comes back to my point in there, it will be a person-centred nature of an approach.”