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The Government has said the NHS app will be bolstered by artificial intelligence software by 2028 which will direct patients to a community pharmacy or find the nearest one to them.

As part of its NHS 10-year plan, Labour laid out its ambition to “make healthcare as easy as online banking” by giving patients the ability to book appointments, manage their medicines and book vaccinations on the app.

Patients will also be able to view their health data in a new single patient record which will contain not only their medical records but information on their health risk, which will be generated from lifestyle, demographic and genomic data.

Improvements to the app will also allow patients to set up a remote consultation with a clinician and ask health-related questions without making an appointment.

However, of particular interest to pharmacy is the new My NHS GP tool which the Government said “will direct people to the most appropriate and timely care they need”, including a community pharmacy.

The My Choices option on the app will also allow patients to find the nearest pharmacy and leave feedback on its services.

The new AI tool will enable other features, such as booking remote or face-to-face GP appointments, managing repeat prescriptions for delivery or collection and reminders, seeing when vaccines are up to date and booking appointments.

It will also provide data on blood pressure, heart rate and glucose levels as well as real-time data from wearables or smart devices.

“Wearables will be able to feed vital data into the app such as step count, heart rate and sleep quality, to provide tailored, personal health advice,” the Government said, insisting the single patient record “will have robust security controls”.