The UK's NHS (National Health Service) announced this week that its NHS Direct app for iOS and Android smartphones has been downloaded more than 1 million times since its release in May. The app is free to download from the app stores.

The app's features include a health and symptom checker, general symptom relief, and specialist advice on issues such as mental health, contraception, sexual health and pregnancy. In addition, users can use the app to call NHS Direct’s telephone service.

“This is a significant milestone for NHS Direct and highlights the popularity of accessing healthcare remotely," Ronnette Lucraft, NHS Direct Chief Operating Officer, stated in a press release. "More people now access NHS Direct’s services online than they do over the phone and it is our aim to continue to provide our services in places that patients and the public will find useful and convenient."

The NHS recently assessed some of the benefits provided by mobile devices to its care provider population: In September, the NHS published the results of an eight-week trial in which mobile clinicians using semi-ruggedized Panasonic Toughbook laptops saved an average of £462 ($737) each by reducing hospital admissions, or nearly $4,800 annually.

Want to read stories as soon as they are posted? Follow MobiHealthNews on Facebook.
On Twitter? Be sure to follow MobiHealthNews for up-to-the-minute news and industry analysis.

Read the press release after the jump.

PRESS RELEASE -- NHS Direct’s mobile app has provided trusted and reliable health advice to over one million patients in its first six months.

The app was released for Android™ or iPhone® smartphones at the end of May 2011. In its first week it gained the number one spot on the iTunes chart of top free apps and it has gone on to receive excellent patient reviews on the iTunes and Android stores, including:

“The idea behind this app is fantastic. It will offer a lot of reassurance to those who need it and hopefully make some impact upon waiting times in A&E and GPs…”

“Great app; I like the way you can store the advice or email it. It's good to know you can get reliable health information from a credible source...”

“This app provides a quick way to get a little reassurance. I like how it tells you why they ask certain questions. When waiting lists are long and there are difficulties getting appointments this app can help… It also gives an indication of how technology will change our lives...”

“This is a good app. It gives good advice and should prevent people wasting doctors’ and A&E’s time when simple self help is available....”

“A must have. If you’re unsure if it’s worth seeing a doctor or even calling NHS Direct if they’re busy, then just check your symptoms with this app and it might help you decide what to do..”

Access health advice quickly

Vicky Wood, 29, from Milton Keynes is married with two sons. She also shared her experiences of using the app, saying:

“Having a young family, it’s really helpful to be able to access health advice quickly. I’ve used the NHS Direct telephone service before, and I regularly use the online tools when I’m at home, so it was great to be able to access their advice away from home through my mobile. The thing I noticed straight away was how quick and easy it was to use. I found the explanations of why I was being asked certain questions really useful, and the function to expand information on certain symptoms meant that I could quickly understand anything I’d not come across before.

“I have found that rashes on the kids can look very different when they first appear to a day or so later, so being able to save the self-care advice onto my phone to refer back to on another day would give me additional reassurance and prevent me needing to seek a second opinion from my GP or walk-in centre. Although my boys are too young to have a phone, I can see how this would be very popular with my teenage niece, who wouldn’t particularly want to discuss health concerns with an adult.”

Ronnette Lucraft, NHS Direct Chief Operating Officer, said:

“This is a significant milestone for NHS Direct and highlights the popularity of accessing healthcare remotely. More people now access NHS Direct’s services online than they do over the phone and it is our aim to continue to provide our services in places that patients and the public will find useful and convenient.

“The mobile app is a more discreet and less embarrassing way of seeking health advice for sensitive issues in public or crowded places. We know that people also value the ability to request a call-back from a nurse if it is required, which is why the app is fully integrated with our phone service.”

Outcomes from the mobile app can include instant on-screen self-care advice or advice on the most appropriate course of action. Patients can save any self-care advice they receive back to the app1 or email it to themselves so that they can access it easily at a later date. The app is linked to NHS Direct’s telephone service and, if a further assessment is recommended, users will be able to submit their contact details so that an NHS Direct nurse advisor can call them back. Patients will be able to review and amend their answers at any point and expand information on specific symptoms should they need additional help identifying them.

Specialist advice

The app includes access to 40 health and symptom checkers covering a wide range of problems including dental pain, diarrhoea and vomiting, abdominal pain, rashes, back pain and burns. Patients can also get advice about how to relieve symptoms associated with specific conditions such as flu and hay fever. There’s also the opportunity to get more specialist advice on issues such as mental health, contraception, sexual health matters and pregnancy problems.

The app is available to download free of charge from the Android™ market or the iTunes store.

The health and symptom checkers that are available through the app are also available online on the NHS Direct website.

People who would prefer to speak to someone, have not got internet access or think a further discussion about their symptoms is needed can still call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47 any time day or nigh