"The NHS App changed my life."

Healthwatch Reading
17 hours ago
2 min read

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our NHS App project, completed our survey, left comments on our social media channels or spoke to our engagement officers at local community events – your voice matters and helps improve services and care.

Between October 2025 and January 2026, we heard from 483 residents across Reading. In total, we received 1,436 responses, including 953 responses from Wokingham Borough.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be running a campaign to share more insights from our project with you. These will also be shared with local communities, organisations, healthcare providers, commissioners, and decision-makers both locally and nationally to help make services better for everyone.

The project

Healthwatch Wokingham Borough and Healthwatch Reading explored how local residents use the NHS App, why some do not use it, and what would make digital healthcare more accessible and inclusive.

As the NHS moves towards making the NHS App its main “front door” to healthcare, it is important to understand how people experience using it. Our previous joint GP Access project, conducted by Healthwatch Wokingham Borough, Healthwatch Reading and Healthwatch West Berkshire in 2023/24, found that over 19% of respondents felt that technology, including the NHS App, made it harder to access care and services.

The findings from this project show that these challenges remain.

Our first highlight is that the NHS App is being used and making a real difference to people’s lives across the borough, just over half (53%) of Reading residents surveyed reporting that they use the NHS App.

Across Reading and Wokingham Borough combined, two-thirds of residents surveyed reported using the app, demonstrating its reach and the positive impact it is having for many people.