Doctor in your pocket, NHS app goes live

Free Android and iPhone interactive app will help millions of people conveniently access trusted and reliable health advice.

Mobile app builder Mobikats, has completed development work of an interactive smartphone symptom checker app for NHS Direct.

By helping ailing people to self assess their symptoms, and providing advice that allows them to treat their symptoms themselves using clinically-proven online self care advice, some sufferers will be less likely to seek help from local NHS services such as a GP or A&E department, freeing up overstretched NHS resource.

The app brings together all 37 of NHS Direct's online symptom checkers including those for colds and flu, sore throats, bites and hay fever. Once users have answered a set of questions, the app will provide self-care advice, generate a call-back from an NHS Direct Nurse Advisor or provide instructions on the most appropriate course of action.

The app's effectiveness relies upon accurate information being given about the person needing medical attention from the outset.

No other online symptom checker provides such a complete and interactive service as NHS Direct's app. It comes with crisp graphics, an easy-to-use interface and a useful function to store frequently used care guides for up to 30 days.

"The importance of keeping the design of the app simple yet with all the functionality needed by NHS Direct was a key challenge for Mobikats," says Philippe Homsy, a Mobikats director. "Users were likely to be stressed when they used it so we needed to ensure they could access the right information in the shortest time."

Roger Donald, Associate Director of Multichannel, NHS Direct, adds: "The NHS Direct app has been developed in response to the popularity of this new mobile channel and to the specific needs of the growing number of patients who prefer to access health advice online. Patients can access rapid and convenient health advice through the app with the reassurance that the information is from a trusted source. Our online health and symptom checkers are already extremely popular and we hope making them mobile we will benefit more people and contribute to helping take pressure off other local NHS services."

The Android version is available for download now at:
market.android.com/details?id=com.mobikats.android.tools.nhs.

The iPhone version will be available from Apple's store in June.

For more information about Mobikats, visit mobikats.com.