Tom Whicher, chief executive and co-founder of DrDoctor, looks at the legacy of the NHS Covid app in driving digital healthcare transformation.
This time five years ago, the NHS faced an urgent need for rapid innovation as the Covid-19 pandemic strained every part of the system – from overwhelming waits for care, to staff buckling under the immense pressure and patients unable to receive treatment for serious illnesses that weren’t Covid.
Because of these unmitigated pressures, the NHS’s Covid App emerged as a swift, but vital response to the problem at hand, showing how quickly technology could be implemented and scaled even at a national level – even under relentless scrutiny.
Now, half a decade after the app’s rollout, its impact is still being felt across the health service, pioneering a more digital-first NHS. From streamlining vaccination appointments to giving patients greater control over their care, the pandemic marked a turning point for innovation.
But things like waiting lists remain stubbornly high, posing the question: how can we rebuild this momentum to once again transform our everyday NHS services? How do we make sure we’re not distracted by the latest and greatest procurement projects, and instead focus on scaling the technology that already exists, and integrating it in the right places?
A time for change in healthcare
For years before 2020, digital transformation in the NHS had been a slow, often frustrating process – for patients and staff. Efforts to modernise the patient journey and administrative systems weren’t widely adopted (or even accepted). If they were adopted, they were usually limited by outdated processes and fragmented IT infrastructure.
The pandemic, put frankly, was the forcing hand for accelerated transformation. It ensured the system’s digital maturity had no place to go but up. Solutions were scaled quickly, something that previously would have been a lengthy, slow and costly process. The impact of this transformation has echoed across the country – reshaping what healthcare looks like today, and in the future.
The government recently announced its plan for change, to shift the NHS from analogue to digital. But, according to the Health Foundation, this is going to cost £21 billion over the next five years, requiring additional funding.
Naturally, I support the plans to move from analogue to digital. However, I fear that simply investing in new technology is not enough – and in some places, it’ll be a distraction from where and how we can have the most impact. We need to champion a level of behavioural change within healthcare if we’re to build on the progress that we’ve already made. That means reinvesting in how we realise the benefits of the technology that already exists, on a much greater scale.
To do this, we’re going to need to rely on greater collaboration between the public and private sectors. No single organisation can solve the challenges that we currently face. Instead, a multi-vendor approach would give us the ability to lean into existing technologies (many of which were born out of the pandemic), and integrate them effectively.
So, how do we do this?
Building the NHS’s digital backbone
Focusing on interoperability, patient outcomes, and ensuring long-term sustainability of design will be critical to laying a foundation for further growth and digitisation at scale, just like we saw with the Covid app.
Tools that can connect hospitals, GP surgeries, mental health and community services reduce duplication, fractured communications, free up staff time, and improve outcomes for patients.
As the 10 Year Health Plan stated, care needs to move closer to home. By integrating community healthcare into mainstream digital platforms, patients can expect more accessible and impactful care. This may have seemed ambitious even ten years ago, but with a strong, connected digital backbone, the NHS can achieve such an ambition. Integrations such as community trusts connecting to the NHS App demonstrate how solutions that were born out of crisis can be translated into permanent stalwarts of our healthcare.
One great example of this is the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH). It recently became the first community healthcare trust in the country to go live in the NHS App, via an integration using DrDoctor.
By connecting the trust’s community services to the wider NHS digital ecosystem, patients can now book and amend appointments, receive notifications, and access information through a single interface, just as they would for hospital care. Through this, they have already seen a 20-30% drop in Did Not Attends.
This shows that the right, interoperable technology can make community care a tangible part of the system rather than a separate bolt-on. Tools like these not only streamline administrative tasks for clinicians but also allow for proactive patient management, such as auto-rescheduling, follow-up reminders and digital triage, which in turn reduces pressures on clinics. Early adopters like CLCH have led the charge in this respect – when digital infrastructure is properly funded, designed for integration, and part of day-to-day workflows, the ambition of moving care closer to home becomes a reality.
Proactive care fuelled by data
Now, we can’t forget about the data. The pandemic showed that real-time, accurate data can shape proactive care, whether that’s spotting patterns in patient-reported symptoms, identifying at-risk populations, or directing resources efficiently.
Systems that combine appointment management, patient communications and predictive analytics can use the data to reduce missed appointments, optimise capacity, and even prevent conditions from worsening. This is such a crucial element of modern healthcare management. Everything in our world is so intuitive, personalised and proactive – so why not our healthcare?
The success of the Covid app has created the conditions for these tools to be adopted more widely and confidently across trusts, proving that digital transformation isn’t just about convenience; it’s about building a resilient health service that works under pressure, instead of faltering.
The legacy of the Covid app extends beyond the technology itself. It has emboldened us to embrace the future. It’s proven the NHS can adapt quickly when the need is urgent and should continue adapting and innovating even when the need is not. It has provided a critical, system-wide mindset shift that the NHS desperately needed. The confidence to say, we can do this. Because we have now shown that radical change at speed and scale is absolutely possible.
So, reflecting on the anniversary of the NHS Covid app, it’s clear that its impact goes far beyond a single moment in time. The app was a catalyst for change, proving the strides we can make when technology meets urgency, and to this day, it continues to shape the way we interact with our care.
That legacy is like a roadmap. It highlights both the progress made and the opportunities still ahead to modernise the NHS. Reflecting on this milestone is not just about looking back, but about learning from the past as we drive the next wave of digital transformation across our health service.
