NHS England has announced that nearly 1,500 high street chemists, including every Boots in England, are now offering live prescription tracking
Millions of patients can now track their prescriptions on the NHS App to help reduce unnecessary calls and visits to pharmacies. Almost half (45%) of phone calls to community pharmacies are estimated to be from patients inquiring about the status of their prescriptions, with the new service helping to free up time for pharmacists to provide personalised advice to patients.
60% of England will have access to prescription tracking
Patients can track their prescriptions by logging in to the app to see if their medicines are “ready to collect” or “dispatched by pharmacy” if they are being delivered.
The service is expected to be made available to nearly 5,000 more pharmacies over the next 12 months, covering approximately 60% of those in England.
Dr Vin Diwakar, Clinical Transformation Director at NHS England, said: “We know that people want more control over how they manage their healthcare, and the new prescription tracking feature in the NHS App offers precisely that.
“You will now get a near real-time update in the app that lets you know when your medicine is ready so you can avoid unnecessary trips or leaving it until the last minute to collect.
“The new Amazon-style feature will also help to tackle the administrative burden on pharmacists so that they can spend more of their time providing health services and advice to patients rather than updates on the status of their prescriptions.”
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, said:” If patients can track the journey of their food shop, they should be able to do the same with their prescriptions.
“By harnessing the power and efficiency of modern tech, we’re saving patients time, driving productivity and freeing up hardworking pharmacists to do what they do best – helping patients, not providing status updates.
“This is just one example of our mission to shift the NHS from analogue to digital as we continue to push our health service into the modern age through our Plan for Change.”
37 million people use the NHS App
Latest data shows the NHS App now has 37.4 million registered users, with an average of 11.4 million people logging in each month to manage their healthcare.
The prescription tracking builds on another app feature, which allows people without a nominated pharmacy to use a barcode to collect their prescriptions, with an average of 2.1 million views of digital prescription barcodes each month.
Prescriptions for individuals who have already designated a nominated pharmacy are sent electronically to their chosen pharmacy, eliminating the need for a barcode or paper prescription for collection.
The number of repeat prescriptions ordered through the app has also increased by 40%, from 3.9 million in April 2024 to 5.5 million in April 2025.
Anne Higgins, Pharmacy Director at Boots, said: “We know our patients are looking for more convenient ways to manage their repeat prescriptions, which is why we’re pleased to partner with NHS England to launch these new updates on the NHS App and through Boots Online Prescriptions.
“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.”
The prescription tracking feature is one of several planned improvements to the NHS App, offering patients greater control and supporting the UK Government’s commitment to enhancing the NHS.
