Hospital and specialist appointments in the NHS App
Patients can view and manage hospital and specialist appointments in the NHS App.
What you need to know
Under appointments in the NHS App, patients can find information about their hospital and specialist appointments, referrals and waiting lists they are on.
The NHS App shows referral information from the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) and appointment information from each NHS trusts' patient engagement portal (PEP), a secure digital platform which gives patients access to their secondary care information. The appointment information shown varies depending on the patient portal the trust uses.
If patients want more details about their referrals and appointments, they select a hyperlink in the NHS App to take them to the e-RS or the patient portal. They may be asked to consent to the e-RS or patient portal’s privacy policy. Find out more about how this works.
Core features are available in every live trust, with some trusts offering additional features.
Core features:
- view referrals and appointments
- see supporting information and contact details for appointments
- view past appointments
Additional features:
- book, change and cancel appointments
- receive notifications and messages
- manage documents and complete questionnaires
- select paperless preferences
This service is available to patients aged 16 and over under the care of trusts connected to the App. Some trusts require patients to be 18 or over to access their appointment information.
Patients can also view the waiting times when they are referred into a speciality (department) at an NHS acute trust.
Find out more about hospital referrals and appointments in the NHS App.
Live trusts
151 NHS trusts are live with the core features, 109 of those also have a mixture of additional features.
Core features
View hospital and specialist appointments
Patients can view their referrals and appointments in one place in the NHS App.
Supporting and contact information
Patients can then access their trust’s patient portal through the NHS App to view:
- supporting information to help prepare for appointments, including documents and, where available, maps and directions
- a single point of contact for appointments (email address and/or phone number) to direct queries to the right team
Past appointments
Patients can see appointment information for their care at the trust for up to two years, including any related documents and questionnaires.
Appointments are considered as ‘past’ after midnight on the day of the appointment and are no longer displayed in the App after two years.
Additional features
At certain live trusts, patients may also be able to use some of the additional features listed below in the NHS App.
Book, change and cancel appointments
Patients can book their first appointment at a trust through the NHS App if they have been referred through the e-RS. Multiple referrals can be managed at any time.
For directly bookable referrals, patients select a clinic from options chosen by their GP or other referrer and select a specific booking slot. Once the clinic confirms the booking, it becomes an appointment.
For indirectly bookable referrals, the clinic sends an appointment date and time, which the patient can then confirm.
Following a booking, patients can request to cancel or change their first appointment.
Managing follow up appointments
Following the first appointment, all follow-up appointments are managed by the patient portal and displayed in the NHS App.
Patients can amend or cancel appointments. Some patient portals process changes automatically (synchronous), while others send requests to staff members at the trust to process and update (asynchronous). Some patient portal providers may have their own booking team and run this as a service.
Synchronous requests can be rebooked or cancelled directly by patients in the Patient Administration System (PAS). Asynchronous requests will show in the App with a ‘pending’ status until the request is processed. If the request is not accepted, the original booked appointment will remain.
Note that certain bookings, such as urgent referrals, cannot be cancelled and the option will be hidden in the App.
Notifications and messages
Patients can receive notifications about changes or reminders about their appointments, documents, or questionnaires (for example cancelled or upcoming appointments or incomplete questionnaires), and broadcast messages (such as temporary department closures) through the NHS App.
The patient portal may also still deliver messages through other channels, such as SMS or email, if the patient has selected this as their preference in the patient portal.
If messages in the NHS App aren’t delivered or read within a certain timeframe, a ‘fallback’ message will be sent via a trust’s usual channels to ensure the patient receives it. The timeframe will usually be within a few hours but depends on the trust.
To receive notifications and messages in the App, patients must enable notifications in both the App and their device settings. Learn more about notifications and messaging in the NHS App.
Documents and questionnaires
Patients can view appointment documents, and complete pre-consultation and waiting list validation questionnaires via the NHS App.
Patients will be notified when they have a document to read, or a questionnaire that needs attention. If a questionnaire is not completed in the App, existing trust workflows will apply.
Documents may include appointment letters, outcome letters, and discharge summaries. Patients can also view a document’s status and download copies of documents and questionnaires for their records.
Some patients can also see a Hospital documents and questionnaires section, where they can view the status of documents and questionnaires, filter them by date or alphabetically, and see any actions required.
Paperless preferences
Patients can choose to go paperless and manage this preference in the NHS App. Any changes made through the patient portal will also update in the App.
Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon with hospital and specialist appointments in the NHS App roadmap.
Further information
People can view hospital referrals and appointments in the App. Help people, including your patients, find out about this feature using our promotional pack.
People aged 16 and over can see the waiting times when they are referred into a speciality at an NHS acute trust.
This case study explains the environmental benefits that NHS trusts and systems can achieve through the adoption and implementation of functionality within the NHS App that enables patients to view and manage their referrals and appointments digitally. Including a material reduction in the carbon footprint associated with physical letters and postal logistics, achieved through secure and scalable digital infrastructure.
Last edited: 30 April 2026 1:58 pm