Nearly 400,000 people have used a prescription tracking feature in the NHS App, in the first ten weeks of its availability.
The tracker allows people to check the status of their medications, reducing unnecessary calls and visits to pharmacies.
The feature has already been used 715,000 times since May – equivalent to once every nine seconds.
Around 1,650 high street chemists, including every Boots in England, are now using the service.
Nearly 4.4 million people have viewed their prescription in the app, with 394,000 also using the app’s new tracking feature to check whether their prescription was ready.
Almost half of phone calls to community pharmacies are estimated to be from patients checking to see if their prescription is ready.
The NHS App now has 37.4 million registered users with an average of 11.4 million people logging in each month to manage their healthcare.
61.5 million repeat prescriptions have been ordered via the NHS App in the last 12 months, marking and increase of 46 per cent on the previous year (42.2 million).
Dr Vin Diwakar, clinical transformation director at NHS England, said: “It’s brilliant that so many people are making use of the new Amazon-style tracking feature in the NHS App, which means you can now be sure your prescription is ready before setting off to the chemist.
“For those who rely on regular prescriptions, the tracker offers near real-time updates on when their medicines are ready, like you can get for your online shopping, and this is all part of our shift to give people more control over their care through the NHS App. It’s also freeing up more time for pharmacists to spend with their patients by cutting the number of calls to chemists.
“We’re seeing millions more people using the app to easily order repeat prescriptions and get faster access to their test results – I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t logged in for a while to take a look and see how the new features can help them manage their healthcare from wherever they are.”
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: “We are driving the reform necessary to make the NHS as easy and convenient to use as doing your shopping or banking online.
“Nearly 400,000 people are already using our new prescription tracker through the NHS App because it saves them time and hassle – no more queuing up at the pharmacy only to find their medicines aren’t ready and no more time-consuming phone calls with pharmacy staff.
“Get the NHS App now – track your prescriptions, skip the in-person lines, and free up both yours and your pharmacist’s time.
“Through our Plan for Change we are dragging the NHS into the digital age and giving patients more control and choice over their healthcare.”
