NHS App caused ‘confusion and anxiety’ over waiting times

Waiting time information in the NHS App has been overhauled after causing “confusion, anxiety and mistrust” among patients, HSJ has learned.

NHS England changed the app’s waiting information page – which initially showed a mean average time – after it led to many patients calling hospitals to ask why they were waiting longer.

Alongside the mean average referral-to-treatment time for their trust, a new metric has now been added to the page, which shows “eight in 10 patients are seen within X weeks”.

A design history document, published by NHSE this month, admitted the previous version – introduced more than two years ago – was causing patients to believe they were seeing a personalised wait time, updated in real time.

This caused “confusion, anxiety and mistrust” when the average date passed, but they had not been contacted or had an appointment.

Many users also believed the waiting time referred to their initial appointment, rather than treatment.

NHSE said the initial information caused “increased call volumes and burden on frontline staff” as patients called hospitals for clarification.

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Source: HSJ, 24 March 2026