NHS launches public health app trials

Smoking, diabetes, depression and anxiety targeted with new mobile push

The NHS has teamed up with three mobile software developers to launch trials of mobile apps aimed at smokers and sufferers of diabetes, depression and anxiety.

The platform-agnostic scheme comes after health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced his ambition to get at least a quarter of smartphone users using apps to access NHS advice, services and medical records by the end of March 2017.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health's Life Sciences division, which is overseeing the trials, told Computing's sister site V3: "The pilot will help us see how the model works in practice, allow us to refine the questions used for the self-assessment, understand how and when to assess the responses provided, and identify gaps in the areas being covered."

The scheme will initially focus on developing an endorsement framework that will act as a preliminary stage for clearing NHS apps without the need for developers to directly approach government bodies, as they have to do now. This should, theoretically, speed up a sign-off process which is currently proving too arduous.

The spokesperson also mentioned that a "dedicated body" could be set up to assess apps and processes of the endorsement framework in order to encourage health professionals to begin recommending the use of digital applications by NHS employees as well as patients.

George Freeman, Life Sciences Minister, commented on the endorsement model idea at the NHS Innovation Expo in Manchester recently:

"We need to transform healthcare in the NHS from a 20th century model in which health is something done to you, to a 21st century world in which we empower people to take more responsibility over their own health and life choices," said Freeman.