More than one million people have downloaded the NHS App since Covid-19 passports were launched on the service.

The app now has 4.8 million registered users, of which 1.3m are new users of the app since transport secretary Grant Shapps announced it would be used for Covid-19 passports on May 7.

The vaccine passport allows people to prove their vaccination status if required for international travel. The app also has a function that allows users to check their vaccine record, including how many doses they have had and which jab they received.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said: “The strides in technology and innovation we’ve made throughout the pandemic are having real consequences beyond fighting this virus – they’re making treatment, diagnosis and care better for patients.

“The pace we’ve brought this to fruition is unparalleled and it is bringing immediate benefits to our wider health service.”

The NHS App allows users to access a range of NHS services on their smartphone or tablet. It was launched in 2018 and offers services including symptom checking and triage; appointment booking; repeat prescription ordering; access to patient records; national data opt-out; and organ donation preference.

The app already allowed users to check their vaccination record if permitted by their GP. Now that service includes Covid-19 vaccination status.

Figures provided to Digital Health News from NHS Digital on May 12 revealed the app had more than 3.5 million users, but only 2.5m of those users have fully verified their identity to allow them to access services provided by the app.

Since the announcement of vaccine passports the total number of users has jumped to 4.8 million.

Matthew Gould, chief executive of NHSX, said: “This has been stood up in a matter of weeks, by a team working every hour to ensure we delivered a user-friendly service on time.

“We are really pleased with how it’s been received, and even more pleased to see it get so many people using the online services of the NHS.”

The announcement of vaccine passports has also prompted users of the app to engage with further online NHS services.

Since May 17, when vaccine passports went live on the NHS App, there have been more than four million logins and more than 90,000 people have used the service to order repeat prescriptions.

Between May 17 and 20 more than 11,000 people registered an organ donor preference using the app, with a daily average of 2,870. It marks a ten-fold increase on the number of people registering an organ donation preference in April which averaged about 300 per day.

There were also more than 8,000 appointments booked through the NHS App in the same four days, double the daily average of April.

The NHS App is separate from the NHS Covid-19 app which was designed specifically as a contact-tracing app.

People will still be required to “check-in” to venues using the QR code scanner on the NHS Covid-19 app, as well as using it to check symptoms and enter test results.

To find out more about Covid-19 passports and how they will work, you can read our explainer here.

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