Nearly one in four people have missed an NHS appointment because they forgot or arrived too late, a new survey shows. NHS England has launched a campaign urging users to enable push notifications in the NHS App so they receive reminders and can rearrange appointments they cannot attend, freeing up millions of slots for others.
The survey of patients across England found 12% had forgotten an appointment and 11% had arrived too late. Appointment data for 2025 show patients did not attend 16 million GP appointments, with no-shows accounting for 1 in 23 appointments (4.3%) — the equivalent of a whole day of missed appointments at every GP practice in England each month. The NHS arranged 376 million GP appointments in 2025, 8.4 million more (2.3%) than in 2024.
The “Tap the NHS App” campaign highlights the benefits of enabling notifications, with adverts on pharmacy bags, radio and social media. Users are encouraged to cancel or rearrange appointments through the app and to request repeat prescriptions there instead of visiting their GP practice. Last year the NHS added an Amazon-style prescription tracking feature to the app, updating users on progress and when prescriptions are ready; it is currently available at about 2,000 pharmacies in England.
Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England, said: “People will often have genuine reasons for not being able to make an appointment or arriving too late, but it’s really important that they let us know if possible so we can offer the appointment to someone else. One of the easiest ways you can reduce the risk of missing an appointment is by tapping the NHS App to turn on notifications to get reminders, so you can cancel or rearrange them if they need to. It’s fantastic to see that GPs provided more than 8 million extra appointments for their patients in 2025, and I hope this new campaign will help increase that number even more in 2026. I’d encourage all NHS App users to make the most of what the app has to offer so they never forget an appointment.”
Dr Zubir Ahmed, Health Innovation Minister, said: “In the busy lives we all lead, it can be easy to forget an NHS appointment or need to reorganise it at the last minute. That’s why I’d encourage everyone to tap the NHS App and turn on notifications – so you can stay on top of your appointments and let us know if you need to reschedule. When you do, someone else can be seen instead, helping us continue to cut waiting times.”
ONS figures indicate more people prefer to contact their GP online: 75.2% of adults found it easy to contact their GP practice, up from 71.6% a year earlier. The NHS App has over 40 million registered users who can view their GP health record, order repeat prescriptions and access various NHS services to manage their care. Users can enable notifications and update contact details in the app’s settings to ensure they receive important messages.
The survey was of 2,000 people in England aged 16 or over, carried out by Censuswide on behalf of NHS England.
