Gaza baby sent back to war zone after open-heart surgery in Jordan
In a makeshift tent in al-Shati refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, 33-year-old Enas Abu Daqqa holds her tiny baby daughter Niveen in her arms. A fan hums constantly behind her to break the morning heat.Enas worries that Niveen's health might deteriorate at any point. She is only seven months old, and was born during the war with a hole in her heart.As her mother explains how she struggled to keep her alive amid a collapsing health system in Gaza, Niveen, with her big brown eyes and tiny frame, cries and fidgets."The war has been very tough for her," Enas tells the BBC. "She wasn't gaining any weight, and she would get sick so easily."Niveen's only chance to survive was to receive urgent care outside Gaza. And in early March, Jordan made that possible.As a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel held, 29 sick Gazan children, including Niveen, were evacuated to Jordan to receive treatment in the country's hospitals. Her mother and older sister were brought out with her.They were the first children evacuated to Jordan after King Abdullah announced plans to treat 2,000 sick Gazan children in hospitals there during a visit to the US the previous month. These evacuations were co-ordinated with the Israeli authorities who do background checks on the parents travelling with their children.Doctors in Jordan performed successful open-heart surgery on Niveen, and she was slowly beginning to recover.But about two weeks into the children's treatment, the ceasefire in Gaza collapsed when Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, and the war was back on, in full force.For weeks, Enas followed the news from her daughter's hospital room in Jordan, worrying about the safety of her husband and other children who were still in Gaza.And then late at night on 12 May, the Jordanian authorities told Enas they were sending her and her family back to Gaza the following day, as they said Niveen had completed her treatment.Enas was shocked."We left while there was a ceasefire. How could they send us back after the war had restarted?" she says, frustrated.
Enas is now reunited with her husband and children in Gaza. They say Niveen did not complete her treatment before she was sent back, and they worry that her condition could get worse."My daughter is in a very bad condition that could lead to her death," says Enas. "She has heart disease. Sometimes she suffocates and turns blue. She can't continue living in a tent."On 13 May, Jordan announced that it had sent 17 children back to Gaza "after completing their treatment". And the next day, a new group of four sick children were evacuated from Gaza to Jordan.The Jordanian authorities have told the BBC that all children sent back were in good medical condition, rejecting claims that they did not complete their treatment. The authorities noted that the kingdom was clear from the beginning about its intention to send the children back once they were better, adding that this was necessary "for logistical and political reasons"."Jordan's policy is to keep Palestinians on their land, and not to contribute to their displacement outside their territory," a foreign ministry statement sent to the BBC said. The return of the 17 children would also allow for more sick children to be evacuated from Gaza, it added.But an official in the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told the BBC the children still needed care, and that their return to the war endangered their lives.
'Forced back'
This is exactly what worries 30-year-old Nihaya Bassel. Her son, Mohammed, who is just over a year old, suffers from asthma and serious food allergies. She believes her son did not receive the full treatment he deserved."We're back to living in fear and hunger, surrounded by death," Nihaya says as her eyes fill up with tears. "How can I get this child the milk that he needs to drink? He doesn't eat even though he's just over a year old, because if he eats, he will immediately get sick."Israel imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip 11 weeks ago, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel. It said this and the resumed offensive were meant to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza. International organisations warn that Palestinians living there are at "critical risk of famine". On Monday, Israel announced it would allow a "minimal" amount of food into Gaza following US pressure. The UN welcomed the crossing of five lorries carrying aid including baby food, but called it "a drop in the ocean".
Nihaya is now living in a small, tented area in al-Shati camp with her brother-in-law's family. Her husband and three other children had fled there from elsewhere in northern Gaza, escaping heavy Israeli strikes as the war restarted while she was in Jordan."I left my children here. I left my husband here. They went through hell while I was away," Nihaya says as she bursts into tears. "My mind and heart were constantly with them in Gaza while I was in Jordan. All of this so that my child could get treated. Why force me back before finishing his treatment?"As she speaks, the sounds of Israeli surveillance drones drown out her voice. Her toddler runs around next to her, at times almost stumbling into a smoky open fire in the tent that the family uses for cooking meals.She struggles to contain her anger as she recounts her journey back to Gaza."We didn't leave [till] 04:00, and didn't arrive in Gaza till 22:45," she says. As they reached the border crossing, Nihaya says they were harassed by Israeli security forces."They started cursing at us. They threatened to beat us. They took all our money. They took our mobile phones, our bags and everything," she says, noting that they confiscated all the bags of anyone who had cash on them.Enas said the same thing happened to her, noting that her medical supplies were confiscated too.The Israeli army told the BBC that they confiscated "undeclared cash exceeding normal limits" from Gazans returning from Jordan due to suspicions that they would be "used for terrorism within Gaza". It notes that the money is being held while circumstances are investigated.It has not given a reason for why other personal belongings were confiscated.Nihaya says she has come back from Jordan "empty-handed"; even her son's medical records were in the bags that the Israeli security forces took away, she says.Jordan says it has given children like Niveen and Mohammed the best healthcare it can offer, and both families acknowledge this. But they worry that a life in one of the world's deadliest war zones for children will just undo all the progress their children have made over the past two months."I got my son to a point where I was very happy to see him like that," Nihaya says through her tears. "Now they want to bring him back to square one? I don't want my son to die."
Edited by Alexandra Fouché
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
The pandemic generation: How Covid-19 has left a long-term mark on children
The stress and isolation of the pandemic has left social and emotional scars that are already being seen in children, but scientists also predict there could be huge economic costs due to disrupted education. For US pre-school teacher Rebekah Underwood, there is something different about the class of 2025. She's noticed that the children she teaches – aged between five and six years old – are physically more cautious than the group who attended the pre-school in Santa Monica in California before the pandemic. "Many kids are not able to roll, not able to jump on two feet, they are very hesitant to climb," she says. She wonders if it has something to do with a lack of outdoor exploration that happened when these children were toddlers. They are among the group who were babies when Covid-19 hit. In March 2020, schools around the world began to suddenly close and life for the 2.2 billion children and young people around the world took a dramatic change. Whole families found themselves stuck at home, venturing outside only for short, allotted periods while children of school age were taught by their parents or learned via a screen. It meant that children lost the rhythm of everyday life – the opportunity to attend clubs, play sports, practice hobbies were replaced with activities at home, crafts and television. Many also missed out on milestones like school dances, parties and graduations. In some places, students wouldn't be back, mixing with their peers, for a year. The average school was closed for 5.5 months, but some were shuttered much longer. Combine that with the stress of the pandemic and of their parents in an unprecedented situation, it triggered widespread speculation about what impact the Covid-19 pandemic would have on the generation of young people experiencing it. Childhood experiences, after all, tend to have an outsized effect on life trajectories because they can alter brain development, behaviour and overall wellbeing. Underwood and her colleagues saw a difference in the children they were teaching almost as soon as schools reopened in 2021. This year, which includes children who were only just being born as the pandemic hit, they are seeing some improvements on previous years. The children in Underwood's young classes, for example, are easily overstimulated. The school where she works had to suspend music classes two years ago, because instruments in the classroom were simply too much for the young children to handle – the raucous noise, both joyful and chaotic, made them very upset. "Half the class sat outside because they were so overstimulated," Underwood says. "Especially in a hands-on classroom, it's hard to manage." She wonders if these children who didn't experience music groups or playgrounds when they were little now struggle with loud, chaotic environments. This year, they have slowly started reintroducing music into the curriculum. Five years after Covid-19 first began spreading around the world, triggering widespread lockdowns, researchers are starting to unravel the effect of the abrupt societal changes may have had on children. The pandemic has left its mark on their behaviour, mental health, social skills and their education. But how deep those scars may run and their effects in the long term may only become clear in the decades to come. As a baby, everything is new: every visit to the park, every smell inside a grocery store, every touch of a soft pet. So what happens when a baby doesn't experience a rich tableau of life experience? In England, the Born in Covid Year Core Lockdown Effects (Bicycle) study is trying to tease apart the role of lockdowns on children born between March and June 2020. "We were really concerned during Covid that children were getting a very unusual experience," says Lucy Henry, a professor of speech and language at City St George's, University of London. The study follows two groups of 200 children born before the pandemic, during the lockdowns of 2020 and after they were lifted in 2021, focusing on language skills and executive functioning at age four. The researchers play simple games with the children – including one where they have to click when a cat appears on a screen. The aim is to "splat the cat" but avoid clicking when they see a dog – a measure of inhibition and other executive functions. Their preliminary findings are due to be published later this year, but the researchers say their results seem to indicate that children who were babies during the pandemic have fewer words and may struggle more with higher-level thinking skills. "The overall picture across the evidence is that communication seems to be something that might have been impacted," says Nicola Botting, a developmental psychologist at City St George's, University of London, who is the co-lead of the study. The researchers are hoping their work will help them understand the reasons for this delay, although they speculate that the lack of social opportunity in the first year of life may have had an outsized impact on children's development. Babies born in the strictest of lockdowns didn't get the more public social communication opportunities, like waving at people, going on a swing, seeing different faces talking, or hearing different voices talking. "We know from a wide body of research, those early few months are super important in terms of learning the foundations of social communication," says Botting. "Although babies look like they're doing nothing, they are doing things, and one of those things is taking in diverse social opportunities." While the longer-term implications of those developmental delays will take time to understand – and it may be possible that such young children can catch up relatively quickly – one of the main areas of research on the effects of the pandemic on youngsters has been on education. An estimated 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries had their education disrupted by the pandemic. When schools closed, large portions of learning passed to parents who home-schooled their children alongside remote learning sessions over the internet. Children without access to computers or reliable internet connections inevitably suffered more. In 2023, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the US published a wide-ranging report on the effects that Covid-19 pandemic had taken on children, finding that "across all measures of school engagement and learning outcomes, students appear to be worse off" than they would have been without the pandemic. The effects are particularly pronounced among those from low-income families and marginalised communities, a pattern that crops up repeatedly when looking at many aspects of how Covid-19 has affected children. Chillingly, the report concludes that the losses in learning that occurred during the pandemic era could have lasting economic implications once these children reach adulthood. One recent study published in January 2025 tried to quantify the learning loss, using global test score data. They found that mathematics scores declined an average of 14% – roughly equal to seven months of learning for a student. Some groups – including students in schools that faced relatively longer closures, boys, immigrants, and disadvantaged students – fared even worse. And distance learning, where students logged onto screens for class, didn't seem to do much to stem the tide of learning loss. In the end, they say, these learning losses could translate to earnings losses and could cost this generation of students trillions of dollars. "The gaps are there, and they are not disappearing," says Maciej Jakubowski, an education researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland, who led the study. The findings match those from other studies. Across Europe, for example, children lost the equivalent of one-to-three months'-worth of learning, with some countries such as Poland and Greece seeing three times that level. Even more significant effects were found in countries including Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and the United states, with more ground being lost in maths and science than other subjects. Another major review of 42 studies across 15 different countries over a year and a half of the pandemic estimated that pupils lost a third of a school year's worth of learning due to the shutdowns. These deficits also persisted as the pandemic progressed, with no clear catch up even after schools began to reopen, says Bastian Betthäuser, who studies social inequalities at the University of Oxford in the UK and led that review. "We saw that those early learning deficits were very sticky," says Betthäuser. "That didn't grow much worse as the pandemic continued, but we didn't at that point see a clear trend towards recovery." The results were also similar for primary and secondary school students. That came as a bit of a surprise, as the researchers thought the deficits would be greater for younger students, who were less likely to be able to learn on their own. Betthäuser says that could be because school closures were longer and more intense for older students – so they ended up being out of school for longer and missing more material. Since the pandemic, many schools have tried to catch up students through accelerated learning, but with varying success. But Betthäuser says there are glimmers of hope – evidence from the UK and the US shows there has been some recovery to those large learning deficits – but that it hasn't been complete. "This recovery tends to be faster for kids from more advantaged backgrounds, meaning that the achievement gaps between kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds remain very large, at times even larger than they were before the pandemic," adds Betthäuser. The effects of this sort of unfinished learning can linger, manifesting into hard economic costs to society, says Jakubowski. For some countries, such as Poland, the learning losses translate into a decline in economic growth of 0.35%. An analysis by management consultant McKinsey estimates that unfinished learning by students during the pandemic could see them earn tens of thousands of dollars less over their lifetime than those whose studies were uninterrupted. This could hurt the US economy by $128bn-$188bn (£94.6bn to £139bn) every year once the students of 2020 enter the workforce. "That's a huge economic impact," says Jakubowski. Jakubowski says that there are targeted interventions that can help to address learning gaps, such as small-group instruction, or tutoring on specific topics, although it is an expensive solution. The long-term cost to society may go beyond education though. The Covid-19 lockdowns led to concerns about how children's physical health may have altered during the pandemic. One study in the UK found that obesity among young children aged between 10 and 11 years old increased during the pandemic, and have persisted. This, the researchers estimate, amounts to an additional 56,000 children being obese. This is likely to be due to changes in eating behaviour and physical activity that occurred in many countries during the pandemic and have perhaps continued. In the long term, this could cost UK society an estimated £8.7bn, the researchers say. But while the pandemic led to a sudden shock to children's lives and education, it also exacerbated trends that were already taking place prior to the appearance of Covid-19. Judith Perrigo, an education researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, had been watching scores in reading and maths slowly decline in the US for years. Perrigo leads a long-term study of kindergarteners that has been going on for 14 years. The study asks their teachers to give a score on each student's physical health and well-being; social competence; emotional maturity; language and cognitive development; and communication and general knowledge. But she and her colleagues found that the pandemic led to an even sharper drop in language, cognitive and social competence skills. The study was unique in that the researchers had been collecting the same data for over a decade, allowing them to see the impact of a universal shock like Covid-19 over the population and over time. "The story is that the Covid pandemic hurt children developmentally," she says, although she says her study shows the downward trajectory was already underway when it hit. Perrigo and her colleagues expected to see declines in all areas the teachers were assessing, but instead, they found that three out of the five dropped – language and cognitive skills, communication skills and social competence. Physical health stayed the same – possibly because there was so much emphasis on public health during the time that it made it easier to stay healthy, or the time at home during the first lockdowns saw children spend more time outdoors when they were allowed. Perhaps surprisingly, the researchers also saw children's scores for emotional maturity improved during the pandemic. While that may seem counterintuitive at first, Perrigo says, there is a body of research that connects the threads between adversity and emotional maturity. "When children experience adversities, this could be parental divorce, it can be neighborhood violence, they experience emotional maturity that comes along with those adversities," she says. "During Covid, there was nowhere to go. The news was on. We saw fatality counts every day. Children were exposed to a lot of big, complicated topics. And so their emotional maturity scores actually increased." Whether this will help better equip this generation for the trials they face later in life remains to be seen. But the stress of the pandemic may have left other marks on the mental health of children and adolescents – with many studies revealing elevating levels of anxiety, depression, anger and irritability during the lockdowns. Children also showed increased signs of internalisation and behavioural problems due to the long periods of confinement. Those who did more exercise, had access to entertainment and had positive family relationships tended to fare better. And perhaps unsurprisingly, the more stressed parents were by the lockdowns, the more volatile their children's wellbeing tended to be. There is also evidence that some of the problems continued after schools and universities reopened. One study in China found children tended to be less prosocial, or willing to act in ways that benefited others. Tandy Parks, a social worker who leads parenting groups in Los Angeles, says she finds families still managing the fallout of disruptions to learning and social connections during the pandemic. Many children she works with are slow to separate from parents and gain a sense of independence. "I get calls from parents of kids four to seven, and it's almost the conversations that I used to have with people with 2.5-year-olds," she says. Parents are struggling with setting appropriate limits and communicating clearly with children, while even developmental milestones such as potty training occurring on a much slower timeline, Parks says. There are hopes, however, that by researching how children fared during and after the pandemic, it may also be possible to identify strategies to support them in future. "We hope that some of what we find isn't just applicable in case there's another pandemic, but also speaks to limited social opportunities of different kinds," including growing up as part of groups that may be isolated for cultural or other reasons, says Henry. "So there's a sort of a breadth, as well as a longitudinal viewpoint there." UCLA's Perrigo warns that more aid is needed to help young people – around the world – who have faced such an abrupt change to their lives. Unless policy makers, parents and teachers start to concentrate efforts and use approaches shown by science to improve wellbeing, the trends will continue to worsen over time, she says. "Those trajectories are very clear – they are all going down, and they have been going down for some time," she says. "So I think that there's no reason to believe that those are going to improve on their own in the next five years, in the next decade, unless we do things in a concentrated fashion to make sure that those things do improve." The full implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for a generation of children will only be realised as they play out in the years and decades to come. But for pre-school teacher Rebekah Underwood, she's seeing signs of hope with her latest class. They jump, roll and enjoy music lessons far more than their peers a year or two ago. "It's on the upswing for sure," she says. "They are more adventurous, although the social-emotional development is a little tricky." -- For trusted insights into better health and wellbeing rooted in science, sign up to the Health Fix newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Walking 8 miles every day helped me lose 7st – and keep it off
In 2024, I weighed 18st 12lb. I was a binge eater and a food addict – I had no off switch. I knew I should be making better choices, but once you are on that food train, it is very hard to get off. I had a terrible addiction to secret binge eating. I loved carbohydrates – pasta, potatoes, bread, anything! As I began to have children, I slowly put on weight and was unable to shift it. I also got into a habit of having a cheese sandwich before bed every night. My husband worked away from home half of the week, so once the kids were asleep I'd be able to get away with snacking without anyone around to hold me accountable. As a regional manager in commercial property, I was always on the road. I had a property portfolio to manage so I was always in my car, living off service station meal deals. Maintaining a good diet and getting into shape was just not a priority for me. I had a stressful job and a busy life looking after my daughter, aged 14 and my son, aged 11. I have very active children and I felt the life I was living was not fair to my family. I was not fit enough to participate in any part of family life. In October I was going to turn 40 and I knew that this was it – it was time to make my health a priority. For months I'd been suffering from all sorts of aches and pains: joint pain, back pain – I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without becoming breathless. I knew I could no longer go on the way I was, something had to change. Then I went on a trip with my son and some friends to France. Naturally, I wanted to live my best life, so I indulged in a lot of wine and cheese. The trip was lovely but it was emotionally draining. My friends, who were all running fanatics and enjoyed staying active, would be up in the mornings to run together and I wasn't able to go because of my health – it was isolating. My friend took a video of me one night, while we were drinking on the balcony of our chalet. When I look back at the video it makes me extremely sad. I was masking my sadness a lot at that point in my life and pretending to be happy but in reality I was devastated about the state of my health. I was not in a good place. It wasn't until I got home from the trip, stood on the scales and saw that I was the biggest I'd ever been, that I put a serious action plan in place. That number I saw on the scales reflected all the health issues I'd been experiencing. It was a defining moment for me. So for my birthday my husband and I were going on an amazing trip to Dubai. The countdown was on – I had seven months to get into shape. At my weight, exercise was not an option, so I committed to walking every day. In the beginning, just getting out there felt good. I was making better choices and felt positive about this new journey I was on. In addition to committing to moving my body every day, I decided to start intermittent fasting on a low-carb diet. To gain inspiration, I made an Instagram account and followed weight loss influencers. I noticed that there weren't any prominent UK health influencers who were losing weight in the same way that I was. I had significantly limited my eating window – I'd fast for 18 hours a day and eat between 1pm and 7pm. I truly believe that fasting worked so well for me because when I was addicted, I was so consumed with food that this method allowed me to control my eating habits. I used to binge so much during the evening that by cutting off my supply of food at 7pm, I was forced to occupy my time with something else. At first it was so hard to find the strength to control myself but the results were so transformative that it became a way of life for me. I still fast every single day because I will never ever go back to the way I was before now that I have this new found life. I've also significantly cut down on carbohydrates in my diet – while before I might've opted for potatoes or bread with my meal, now I focus on protein like eggs. One day a friend said to me: 'Alex, why don't you blog about your weight loss journey? It will hold you accountable and track your progress,' so I turned my Instagram account into a weight loss diary called 'theweightlosswife'. The impending trip to Dubai motivated my decision, but the Instagram page added excitement to the journey. I met a lovely community that was incredibly supportive and followed me every step of the way. I decided not to tell any friends or family about the page, or my goal as I didn't want to feel monitored: I wanted to work at my own pace and feel confident in the progress I was making. Getting started When you are as unfit as I was, even going for a walk is hard work. I started from absolutely nothing and downloaded the Couch to 5k app. Rain or shine, I went on a walk just to get my steps in. In the beginning, it did not matter how many steps I got in, just that I got out. It was an absolute struggle – I did not enjoy it at all. I had to really push myself and eventually the more I did it, the more I found myself actually enjoying it. When the weight begins to drop off and your body begins to change, it feels really good – it becomes quite addictive. Once moving got a bit easier, I began to set myself targets for the amount of steps I needed to get in each day. I started at 3,000 to 5,000 steps, then 10,000 steps, and now I do 20,000 steps a day (about eight miles). There is a walking track around the back of my house which I use to take my dog out for a walk at least twice a day, and then I go to the gym after work. I just try to walk absolutely everywhere, especially on the weekend – by Friday I've had enough of being in my car! I began to see a positive change in my body after three weeks and I started to feel great. When I was heavier I avoided social situations because I couldn't find anything to wear. I also hated people taking pictures of me, so I actively avoided them. Since losing the weight, my confidence has grown so much and I find it extremely enjoyable to visit different places and to meet up with friends and family. I'm now 11st 7lb and have never felt better after losing 7st. After a couple of weeks, I also noticed the health benefits: I had a lot more energy, I wasn't as tired and my joint pain eased up. Also, I'd always struggled with constant heartburn and acid reflux but that completely disappeared once I started eating better. My family and friends have been so supportive and encouraging. They can see that I've got a whole new life – I'm out every weekend, spending time with my family and engaging in activities that I just could not participate in before. I feel like now I can capture all these moments that I couldn't before. I have noticed that people treat me differently since I lost weight. I used to tend to fall into the background. I had these long hair extensions to somewhat mask my size, but since losing weight, I embraced my bob and feel more confident in my skin. To push myself, at the end of April, my husband, a group of friends and I decided to climb Snowdon. It was the most exhilarating, rewarding experience, and I was so proud of my progress. The whole way up I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it – that I wasn't as fit as I thought. The experience made me realise how far I'd come with my fitness and once I got to the top after two hours of climbing, I was astonished at myself. Following that life-changing experience, I signed up for Macmillan's Jurassic Coast Mighty Hike in July, and the Great South Run in October. I also placed a ballot for the 2026 London Marathon, my next big goal. To run the marathon would be a bucket list activity for my life and I'll be devastated if I don't get in. Runners get informed whether their entry was successful or not in July, but I've read that this year has seen a record number of ballot entries, so I think my chances are unlikely. I feel like I'm still on my journey – it is not over just because I've lost weight. I want to focus on the fitness side of my well-being now and use my Instagram to spread knowledge and awareness. I've gained 56,700 followers in the space of a year, and I'm so proud of what I've managed to achieve in such a short space of time. What I ate before Breakfast Cheese toastie and a coffee from a Starbucks on the side of the motorway. Lunch Prawn Mayo or BLT sandwich, a packet of crisps and a Pepsi Max (I used to drink two to three cans a day). Dinner Cheesy pasta or something with chips. I also had a fair amount of takeaways on the weekend. Alcohol Fizz, vodka cranberry or a gin and tonic. What I eat now Breakfast Egg white omelette with cream cheese, smoked salmon and a side of grapefruit and strawberries. Snack Fruits – grapefruit, passion fruit, strawberries, oranges. Dinner Steak with courgette, rocket and parmesan. Alcohol Stayed the same – it's the one thing I didn't change, but I don't drink at home.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
NHS app to become default source for appointments, screenings and test results
The NHS app will become the default method of communication for patients seeking appointment reminders, screening invitations and test results as part of a major investment. Millions more people will receive personal health information directly to their smartphones within the next three years in a move that is expected to save the health service £200 million, the Department of Health and Social Care said. It will also avoid the need for at least 50 million NHS letters being sent by post each year, with the Health Secretary likening the shift from analogue to digital to 'online banking or ordering a takeaway'. The £50 million investment will see 270 million messages sent through the NHS app this year, an increase of 70 million on the previous financial year. Push notifications will provide appointment reminders to patients to try to reduce the risk of no attendance, with around eight million missed appointments in elective care missed in 2023/24. More than 11 million people in the UK currently log into the NHS app every month, while almost 20 million are opted in to receive healthcare messages from the app. Where app messaging is not available, particularly for elderly patients without smartphones, communications will be sent via text message and then by letter as a last resort and phone lines will be freed up. It is hoped the changes will give patients better access to manage their healthcare journey and make informed decisions about their care. NHS app services, which were launched in December 2018, are now used in 87% of hospitals across England. Last month, NHS England announced millions of patients would be able to get 'Amazon-style' tracking updates on their prescriptions through the app, to check if their medicines are ready to collect or have been despatched for delivery. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: ' People are living increasingly busy lives and want to access information about their health at the touch of a button, rather than having to wait weeks for letters that often arrive too late. 'This Government is bringing our analogue health service into the digital age, so that being a patient in the NHS is as convenient as online banking or ordering a takeaway. 'The NHS still spends hundreds of millions of pounds on stamps, printing, and envelopes. By modernising the health service, we can free up huge amounts of funding to reinvest in the front line. 'Through the investment and reform in our Plan for Change, we will make the NHS App the front door to the health service and put power in the hands of patients.' Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patient's Association, said: 'This major upgrade to the NHS App marks a significant step in modernising how patients receive information, from test results to screening invitations. 'This was a recommendation from our Digital Coalition and realises changes that patients have asked for. 'We welcome this investment and the ambition behind it. Success for any digital innovation will be the implementation of the Digital Inclusion Plan and working directly with patients and communities.'
