The NHS App - what it can do

If you are having issues opening your clinical letters in the NHS App, please check that you have the latest version downloaded by following the steps:

1. Open the NHS App
2. Go to your profile settings (by a person icon in the top right hand corner)
3. The current version number is displayed at the bottom of the screen under the “Log out” bar. The latest version is 4.25.5 (5.0.6) (correct on 16 December 2024)

You can update to the latest version of the NHS App via App Store or Play Store to latest version 4.25.5 (5.0.6).

In addition to seeing outpatient appointment information on the NHS App, you can now see:

• clinic letters
• discharge summaries
• estimated waiting times for treatment at Homerton Healthcare
• blood test results for tests requested by a Homerton Healthcare clinician

See the 'What Homerton Healthcare information is available in my health record in the NHS App' drop down below to see full details of the information you can currently see via the app. 

You will still receive letters and texts form us in the usual way. 

The NHS App gives you a simple and secure way to see parts of your GP health record and your Homerton Healthcare hospital records. This includes your appointments, clinic letters, test results, and estimated waiting. Having the NHS App means that you can access all this information on your smartphone or tablet.

The NHS App is developed by NHS England. It is designed to be a ‘digital front door’ to the NHS, hopefully reducing the need to have multiple apps to support your health journey. 

Patients Know Best is a software company who have developed the part of the NHS App which provides your hospital health record functionality. 

You may be asked to register for a Patients Know Best account the first time that you access your Homerton Healthcare record through the NHS App. Registering for a Patients Know Best account means that you will be able to see your Homerton Healthcare appointments, hospital clinic letters,  discharge summaries and results of blood tests requested by a healthcare professional at Homerton Healthcare.

Other hospitals across England are also working with Patients Know Best. This means you can see parts of your health records from other hospitals in one secure place, via the NHS App. 
 

You can sign up for Patients Know Best through the NHS App or through the Patients Know Best website.

Patients over 16 can both register and log in to Patients Know Best using their NHS login – the same email address and password that you use to log into the NHS App. NHS login allows you to access lots of different health and care websites and apps with just one email address and password.

If you do not have an existing NHS login, you will be prompted to create one after entering your email on the NHS login sign in page. NHS Digital have published a video and step by step guide on how patients can do this here. You have two options for logging in:
Option 1: using your NHS login from the NHS App
Option 2: Using your NHS Login from the PKB Patients Know Best website  

 

 

Option 1: using your NHS login from the NHS App

This step by step guide is for people who want to register with Patients Know Best. Patients must be over 16 years old to register via NHS Login in the NHS App. The NHS App is available on Apple and Android

 

You can also use the NHS App website

Registration complete!

Once registered, you will be taken to the area of PKB you selected to go to from the NHS App in step 5 (in this guide, it was Lab Test Results). A welcome email will be sent to your email address.
You no longer have to manually sign in when navigating to PKB from the NHS App, your NHS login can now do this for you.
You can also log in directly to PKB from a web browser using your email address & the password you just created.
 

Option 2: Using your NHS Login from the PKB Patients Know Best website 
This step by step guide is for patients people who wish want to register for a new or existing Patients Know Best record. Patients must be over 16 years old to register via NHS Login. See slides 4-5 on PPT.

Once registered, you will be able to see future Homerton acute service appointment information, letters from the hospital including; discharge letters and clinical letters, and results from blood tests requested by Homerton Healthcare. The Trust is working hard on introducing more information about your health and care including forms and questionnaires.

This health record is held and led by you, meaning that you can add your own information if you wish, such as tracking your symptoms, recording medications you are taking, or make notes to monitor your condition.

We want to give you the information you need about your hospital appointments in one place and directly in your hands.

For patients waiting for a hospital appointment, operation or treatment, we want to make sure you are supported with the correct information.  

In the NHS App, patients will be able to:

• see their appointments, clinic letters, blood test results 
• request to change or cancel their appointment  
• complete forms or questionnaires before and/or following an appointment  
• record symptoms in a health journal  
• access resources shared by health and care services 
• choose who can see/access their patient held record, for example, a carer, family member or other health professionals.  

No, this will not affect the care you already receive from us. Instead, it’s designed to improve your care and experience, help you to be more involved in decisions, get better communication from us, and give you the tools to manage your care safely at home.

No, you will still get communications from us in the normal way. This is just another way to check your hospital appointments and view to your health record.

Patients Know Best is compliant with the NHS network, so it’s just as secure as the information your healthcare providers already hold on you. However, it's unique because it also gives you, the patient, access to your information via any web-enabled device. Patient information is encrypted (or coded) and only people who have permission to view your information can do so.

We encrypt data in both transit (i.e. when the information comes in and out) and storage.

Yes. you can only use one unique email address per registration e.g. you can’t use a family shared email if your family/friend already uses that email for their PKB account.   If you are registering via the NHSApp, it will automatically use the email address associated with that account.

Patients Know Best (PKB) develop and supply the feature of the NHS App which shows your appointment information. PKB will send notifications to you via email when there is information added to your record, such as an appointment which has been booked, a clinic letter has been added or you have been invited to complete a questionnaire by a clinical service. Email notifications are sent from no-reply-uk@patientsknowbest.com.

You do not need to reply to the email, it is simply letting you know there has been something added to your record.

Yes, you can ask someone else to register on your behalf, with your consent. However, they should not use their own email account to do this. If you want the family member or carer to have access to your record they can be added in the “sharing” section. This will allow them to set up their own account and allow you to control the level of access they have to your record.

You can access your Patients Know Best record through the NHS App on any smartphone, tablet, or desktop device. Download the NHS App in the App Store or Google Play, or visit the NHS app website.

Yes. This is an online service and will require you, or a carer, to have regular internet access to receive your correspondence via the system and to use the additional features.

Any future appointments for acute services at Homerton information should show immediately in PKB when an appointment has been booked.  We have plans in the future for appointments for community and mental health services to be included soon.

Patients Know Best sends out notifications to your main email address from no-reply-uk@patientsknowbest.com.The emails are sent to inform you about a change in your record, such as a new appointment or document. Each message has a URL link which you can follow to log into your PKB record via the website and see the relevant information securely. If you turn on notifications from the NHS App, you will receive a notification from the App when there are new messages for you from Patients Know Best.

You will receive these notifications for new activity in the ‘Events & messages’ section, for example new documents, and questionnaires. You can read their message from within the NHS App by tapping on the notification. To learn how to manage NHS App notifications, see the NHS help and support page.

You can view information upcoming and past Homerton Healthcare hospital appointments booked from October 2023 on the NHS App.

To see appointment information in the NHS App

Click on 'Upcoming & past appointments' from the NHS App homepage or from the 'Your health' page   Click on 'Hospital referrals and appointments' in the sub menu

 

To see more details about your Homerton Healthcare hospital appointments

1. Click on 'Upcoming & past appointments' from the NHS App homepage or from the 'Your health' page 2. Click on 'Hospital referrals and appointments' in the sub menu	3.  Scroll to the bottom of the page & click on 'Additional appointment information'	4.  Click 'Continue	5.  You will land on the PKB main 'Appointments' page'

 

Using the NHS App you can find digital copies of clinic letters, which are posted to you after a hospital appointment, and discharge summary documents which are given to you when you leave the hospital after being an inpatient, or being seen in A&E.

How to find these documents

1.Click on  'View your messages' from the homepage or 'Messages' in the navigation menu	2. Click on 'Your hospital and specialist doctors'	3.  Click 'Continue'	You will land on the PKB ‘Events & messages page’ where you can find your clinic letters and discharge summaries. Please note that the ‘Send message’ and ‘Start consultation’ buttons are not active at Homerton Healthcare

 

You can see the results of the blood tests which were requested by a doctor or clinician at Homerton Healthcare. The majority of results will be available to access in your online record in the NHS App within 5 working days after your blood test, however, please be advised that some results can take up to 8 weeks.

Your clinician will review these results and will discuss them with you if your treatment plan needs to change.

Finding blood results

1.Click on 'Your health' in the main NHS App navigation menu	2. Click on 'Test results and imaging'	3. Click on 'Test results’	4. You will get to the PKB Tests page where you will find your blood test results

 

Follow the instructions in this guide -  What will my blood results look like in PKB.pdf

The results in your Patient Knows Best record are for tests ordered by Homerton Healthcare clinicians. Your clinician will review these results and will discuss them with you if your treatment plan needs to change.

All patients in the UK have the right to see their own test results, however test results are not always created with patients in mind and can sometimes be confusing and difficult to understand, especially where there are many different results for one blood test.

Results may be numerical or text. Example A in this guide - What do my blood results mean.pdf shows how a numerical result will appear in your PKB record, and Example B is an shows a text result.

Important things to consider:

• It is important to learn what's 'normal for you', this is particularly important if you have a long-term physical health condition, as your results may be different to other people's. 
• A test result outside the range may not indicate a problem, these are just reference ranges.
• Equally, if all results are within the reference range, this does not completely guarantee there isn’t a concern.
• Not all results are returned to us at the same time, the Homerton Healthcare clinician who requested the blood test may be waiting for further results before contacting you. 
• Comments may have been added automatically by a laboratory computer or by a laboratory scientist or doctor. Generally, comments are written for the doctor or clinician requesting the test rather than the patient, and so they may not be very meaningful to you.
• It is important to follow the advice of your Homerton Healthcare doctor or healthcare professional, they will review your result and contact you within an appropriate if your treatment plan needs to be changed.

You will be able to see the reports from scans which were requested by a doctor or clinician at Homerton Healthcare. 
The scan reports will be available to access in your online record in the NHS App 28 days after the report has been finalised by the radiologist.

A placeholder will appear in your PKB record before the results, as shown below.  This is simply to inform you that the results are being reviewed by a radiologist and when you will be able to access your result.

 You can follow the below guide to find your imaging report in PKB:

What does my imaging report mean?

Your clinician sometimes uses medical imaging to diagnose and treat diseases they think you may have. A radiologist is a doctor who supervises these exams, reads and interprets the images, and writes a report for your clinician. This report may contain complex words and information. You clinician will discuss your report with you at your next appointment.
Important things to consider when accessing your test results:

• the radiologist writes the report for the clinician who requested the exam. Typically, the radiologist sends the report to the person who ordered your test, who then delivers the results to you.
• the radiologist may write the report using medical terms that your clinician will understand. However, these terms may be confusing for you as a patient.
• it is important to follow the advice of your Homerton Healthcare doctor or healthcare professional, they will review your report, talk to you about your results and explain what happens next.

Contact the team by emailing huh-tr.pkb@nhs.net to change your information. The team will look into the issues and get in touch with a resolution.

We want to make sure that the NHS App meets the needs of our patients, so hearing your feedback is very important to us. To work together with you on this journey, there are a number of ways you get involved - taking part in research, joining our People’s Panel for Digital Health, or becoming a Digital Support Volunteer. If you would like to get involved, then please complete this form.

You may also email any feedback or questions to huh-tr.pkb@nhs.net

For any technical web issues, please contact the Patients Know Best team at help@patientsknowbest.com. This is not linked to Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, so please do not share any personal or clinical information in this email.

For any other issues or questions about your data, you can contact our own team at huh-tr.pkb@nhs.net