A new function on the NHS App, called My Carer, will be rolled out nationally from next March after trials showed it successfully cut back on bureaucracy for unpaid carers.
Care minister Stephen Kinnock, in an interview with The i Paper, said My Carer would make a difference to the more than 5m people in the UK who currently look after a relative, friend or neighbour without receiving money.
From March 2026, users of the NHS App will be able to add the My Carer function to manage appointments, prescriptions, medical history and care plans for the person they look after all in one place.
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The Government said it will end frustrating repeated conversations, missing appointment timings, and help carers better coordinate and plan the care of their loved one or friend.
The Government has spent £711m last year and this year on improving conditions for unpaid carers and the individuals they look after, including this year an uplift of £172m on the Disabled Facilities Grant, which could fund around 15,600 home adaptations helping people live independently in their homes.
He told The i Paper: “Why is it that people are doing so much of their banking online, booking travel online, why shouldn’t our interaction with public services and particularly with health and social care be done in the same way?
“But fundamentally, the system isn’t set up to facilitate unpaid caring, to support unpaid carers, to make their lives as easy as possible, and they’ll often find themselves being passed from pillar to post.
Kinnock said that unpaid carers often faced a “nightmare” in trying to book appointments and managing test results.
A plan to introduce a Single Patient Record – where people can store and view their complete medical histories – is expected to be rolled out nationally from 2028.
The Prime Minister and Health Secretary have a 10-year plan for the NHS (Photo: Getty)Ministers want the NHS App, which was first launched in 2019, to be improved to create a “full, digital front door to the health service” which would be a “massive boon for productivity across the board”.
He said the My Carer function would be founded on GDPR principles and legal provisions to prevent abuse of the system.
Kinnock said publication of the 10-year plan was a “huge moment for the country”. He added: “We talk a lot about the NHS almost as if it’s a thing in its own silo. It really isn’t. It is the foundation of our economy.
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“We talk about wanting to have a really strong and cohesive society and culture in our country.
“I think the difference now is the sense that if we don’t get it right this time, we really could well end up in a situation where we have some of the snake oil salesmen in other parts of our political life who we know want to privatise the NHS, who want to turn it into a private insurance-based system that is not free at the point of use and is based on your ability to pay rather than your clinical need.
“And this Labour government will never allow that to happen, but this is a moment of truth, and that’s why I think it’s just a really, really big moment for the country.”
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