Prescription tracking app to be used by more than 5,000 pharmacies within a year, says NHS England

A prescription tracking function has been added to the NHS App, in a move which should reduce the need to call or visit pharmacies to check if a prescription is ready, NHS England has said.

In a statement, published on 23 May 2025, NHS England said that more than 1,500 pharmacies — including each branch of Boots in England — are already set up to use the tracking feature, which enables patients to check their prescription status in real-time.

Almost 5,000 more pharmacies are expected to start offering the service over the next 12 months, which will total more than half of the pharmacies in England, according to the statement.

It said that around 45% of phone calls to pharmacies are from patients asking if their prescription is ready, and the tracking feature will give pharmacists more time to provide advice to patients.

The national patient prescription tracking service was first piloted in September 2024.

Currently, 37.4 million people have registered with the NHS App.

In April 2025, the number of repeat prescriptions ordered using the NHS App rose to almost 5.5 million — a 40% increase compared with the same month in 2024, NHS England said.

Commenting on the developing functionality of the NHS App, Tase Oputu, chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society English Pharmacy Board, said: “The introduction of prescription tracking in the NHS App is a significant step forward for patients and pharmacy teams alike. By reducing unnecessary calls and visits, this innovation allows pharmacists to focus more on delivering expert care and vital services.

“It’s a smart, patient-centred use of technology that supports better access and efficiency across the system.”

Anne Higgins, pharmacy director at Boots UK, said: “For the first time, when a patient orders their prescription via the NHS App and they’ve nominated a Boots pharmacy to dispense it, they can view its journey at every key step of the process.

“This will remove the need for patients to call our pharmacy team for updates on their prescription so they can spend more time with patients and deliver vital services like NHS Pharmacy First.”

Speaking at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress, held in London on 9 May 2025, Rahul Singal, chief pharmacy and medicines information officer at NHS England, said that NHS England was also working on reminders to order repeat prescriptions and alerts for when prescriptions are ready to collect.