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Upgrades to the NHS App, as part of the NHS ten-year health plan, will include a feature that allows patients to find their nearest pharmacy, the government has announced.
In a statement published on 4 July 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care said that the ‘My Choices’ AI tool will help patients to “find everything from the location of their nearest pharmacy, to the best-rated providers for heart, hip or knee surgery — all on the app”.
“It will provide a range of data on providers across the country, such as which delivers the shortest waits, has the best patient outcomes, the best patient satisfaction scores, or is simply closest to home — so anyone, anywhere, can pick care based on their own preferences,” it added.
“People who just want to be sent to their local provider will be offered this as a default.”
The tool is part of a raft of features coming to the app, which were announced as part of the ‘Fit for the future: ten-year health plan for England‘, published on 3 July 2025.
Another feature of the app includes the AI tool ‘My NHS GP’, which is due to be introduced by 2028, to help direct patients in need of non-urgent care to the most appropriate source, including community pharmacy.
In addition, the app will offer a ‘My Medicines’ tool, in the short term, to help patients manage repeat prescriptions for delivery or collection and remind patients what medicines they need to take and when.
In the long term, it is planned that the ‘My Medicines’ tool will be able to guide patients on drug interactions, integrate pharmacogenomic data and help avoid adverse reactions.
The government also intends for the app to give patients control over a single patient record.
Under the plans, by 2028, the app will allow patients to:
- Receive instant advice for non-urgent care to help find the “most appropriate service first time through My NHS GP”;
- Hold consultations through the app with ‘My Consult’;
- Book tests and vaccinations, manage their medicines and long-term conditions;
- Access approved digital tools;
- Leave feedback on the care they have received.
Vin Diwakar, national director for transformation at NHS England, said: “The shift from analogue to digital set out in the ten-year health plan will transform the services we offer through the NHS App, making it the single most important tool patients use to get health information and control their care.
“We will co-design these with patients and carers to ensure that the app can be accessed by everyone.”
