Scotland’s NHS app to launch next year with full rollout expected by 2030

An NHS and social care app for Scotland is to be launched next year – but its full rollout will take until the end of the decade.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said the project is the “single biggest digital innovation in Scotland’s health and social care system” which will “revolutionise how people manage and receive their healthcare”.

He was speaking as the Scottish Government confirmed the MyCare online app will initially be launched in the Lanarkshire area in December, before being rolled out further in April 2026.

Government papers show the rollout across Scotland will “take place in stages between 2025 and 2030”, while what are described as “national priority services” will not be in place on the app until 2028.

The launch of the Scottish app comes years after a similar system south of the border, with NHS England having had its app – which allows patients to book appointments, order prescriptions and see their medical records – since 2019.

Mr Gray said the launch of the Scottish app will be a “landmark moment” as the Government seeks to tackle waiting lists and ensure people can receive care closer to their own home.

He said launching it in Lanarkshire first will help “ensure the MyCare app is robust, safe, secure, and meets people’s needs”.

He added: “I am delighted we will then see a population-wide rollout from April and we have today published a high-level summary rollout plan setting out our approach.”

The app will give all users a secure and unique digital identity, which will allow them to access some personal information and the national service finder from NHS inform.

The initial launch in Lanarkshire will be targeted at dermatology outpatients, with the Government saying this will allow the app to be “evaluated thoroughly”, including using feedback from users, before it is rolled out.

Following its initial rollout, MyCare will be expanded to hospital-based services, before including other areas of the health and social care system, including GP practices, pharmacy, social work and social care.

The Scottish Government has worked with NHS Education for Scotland others in the development of the app, and Mr Gray said: “I want to thank everyone who has worked hard to help us reach this stage and to ensure we deliver rollout of the app across the country from April.”

However Reform MSP Graham Simpson said: “It will be at least five years before we can book appointments and access our records.

“Scotland is lagging behind on this and it is not good enough.”

He insisted the pace of the app’s rollout “raises serious concerns”, adding: “A five-year timeline to deliver a digital front door to health and social care – starting with a limited pilot in Lanarkshire and only reaching fuller coverage by 2028 – is simply too slow given the urgency of improving access and efficiency across our health services.

“We cannot afford to wait until 2030 for a service that is already long overdue.

“The Scottish Government must accelerate delivery, ensure equitable access, and avoid leaving communities behind in the digital transformation of health and social care.”

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane was also critical, saying: “After years of promising an NHS app, the SNP have still delivered a half-baked version.

“We have repeatedly called for this to be rolled out to support patients and staff, but instead the nationalists have been unable to do the basics and have squandered millions in the process.

“Patients south of the border have been able to use an app for years. Yet in SNP-run Scotland we are still living in the analogue age while everyone else has moved on to digital.

“SNP ministers must be clear about exactly how this app will be rolled out, instead of trying to rush it out to time with the Holyrood election.”

Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie claimed that “by the time this app is finally rolled out in full, the technology will already be obsolete”.

She said: “The SNP has had two decades to modernise our NHS but we still have doctors relying on pagers, GPs using fax machines, and an app that only works for one service in one health board.”