Wes Streeting set to unveil ‘revolutionary’ NHS app that can enable sufferers to decide on non-public therapy as Health Secretary claims reforms will put public ‘within the driving seat’

Patients will be able to choose where and when they get treatment using a ‘revolutionised’ NHS app as part of Labour’s plans to slash waiting lists.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting will today publish proposals to transform how people choose health providers – including in the private sector as an NHS patient – book appointments and receive test results. 

And he boasted last night that bringing the analogue NHS into the digital age would give ‘working-class patients’ the same treatment choices as the wealthy.

It is the latest announcement in the Government’s NHS Elective Reform Plan and will be unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Streeting tomorrow. 

As revealed yesterday by the Daily Mail, there will also be plans to tell GPs to refer patients directly for scans and treatment to speed up access to care.

There is mounting concern among senior Labour figures that they must start delivering improvements to the health service – including cutting waiting lists.

And last night Tory health spokesman Ed Argar said: ‘Labour promised reform, now patients are clear, it’s time they actually delivered it.’

The NHS is also under huge pressure as flu and winter viruses take their toll. NHS officials say the app, coupled with other reforms, will give patients greater power over how and when they receive non-emergency treatment.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting will today publish proposals to transform how people choose health providers

NHS officials say the app, coupled with other reforms, will give patients greater power over how and when they receive non-emergency treatment

The NHS app upgrades will allow patients to:

• View and manage appointments at a time and place that is convenient to them, reducing missed appointments. 
• Choose from a wide range of providers, including in the independent sector. 
• Book diagnostic tests at convenient locations, such as a Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) in a local shopping centre. 
• Receive test results quickly through the app before choosing the next step – whether that is a remote consultation or surgery – at a convenient time and location.

As a first step, from March, patients at more than 85 per cent of acute trusts will be able to view appointment information via the NHS app.

Last night, Government sources said that patients would be offered five treatment ‘providers’ or hospitals to choose from, including an independent sector provider where capacity allowed. 

Mr Streeting said last night: ‘If the wealthy can choose where and when they are treated, then working-class patients should be able to, and this Government will give them that choice.

‘Our plan will reform the NHS so patients are fully informed every step of the way through their care, are given a proper choice to go to a different provider for a shorter wait and put in control of their own healthcare.

‘This Government’s reform agenda will take the NHS from a one-size-fits-all, top down, like-it-or-lump-it service, to a modern service that puts patients in the driving seat and treats them on time – delivering on our Plan for Change to drive a decade of national renewal.’

But last night, the Health Secretary was rebuked by the Tories for his reference to giving ‘working-class patients’ the same treatment choices as well-off people.

Tory MP Greg Stafford, a member of the Commons’ health and social care committee, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Wes Streeting should be improving the NHS for all those who need it rather than using class war rhetoric to sow division or put ideology at the heart of yet another Labour policy.’