Alastair Stewart criticises 'inaccesible' NHS app amid reform

GB News

Veteran broadcaster Alastair Stewart has told GB News that the NHS App is "not fit for purpose", as he expressed his concerns for Labour's reform of the health service.Announcing a new 10-year plan today, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer declared the reforms are "about fairness" for everyone.FULL STORY HERE.

Transcript

00:00Now, look, you're going to have a lovely app. You can do everything online.

00:05You'll have as a senior citizen, you'll have no problems with the NHS ever again.

00:11Isn't that wonderful? Well, it would be if it were true.

00:16But as we got used to with this Labour government, if you scratch the surface a little bit,

00:22that the assertion that this is a plan for everyone is patently a nonsense,

00:26because if, like me, and the literally, no exaggeration, Nigel,

00:31hundreds of thousands of people like me who have either vascular dementia or Alzheimer's,

00:38any form of dementia, and there are several kinds, the app is simply not fit for purpose.

00:44First of all, you have to put in your email address.

00:48Then you have to put in a password.

00:50And if you get it slightly wrong and think, oh, hang on a moment,

00:53it's not sausages and apples, it's carrots and cabbages,

00:56and you want to quickly change it so you can carry on, it's terribly complicated.

01:01And if you've got dementia, or if you're slightly older, but perhaps not with dementia,

01:08or just have a mental issue, sometimes you get digital problems,

01:13you get a letter wrong or a number in the wrong place,

01:16and you cannot get hold of the prescriptions you talk about,

01:19you cannot look at your appointments record, it's just inaccessible.

01:25And as far as the community hubs, or as you and I used to call them when we were growing up,

01:29cottage hospitals almost, that's great.

01:32We've got a brilliant GP surgery just down the road that has nurses,

01:36has a brilliant pharmacy, and looks after Sally and me extremely well.

01:41So I'm really pleased about that.

01:43And they're just a terrific team.

01:45But my brain consultant, and my dementia consultant, and my cardiologist,

01:52because so much of it is about blood pressure, are both based at the big general hospital.

01:57They're not going to duplicate them in our local setup, nor should they.

02:01So it simply isn't a plan for everyone.

02:04Not everyone's got a smartphone.

02:05Not everybody has 24-hour, seven-day-a-week perfect Wi-Fi and broadband.

02:10Yeah, that's true.

02:11We all know all of those problems, and many of your viewers will understand as well.

02:15And when I put the tweet on that you kindly just showed a moment ago,

02:19my timeline on Twitter X was awash with people saying, you know,

02:24my granny is such-and-such an aide, or my aunt so-and-so.

02:27And also people who don't particularly like the idea of sharing their email address

02:33and their date of birth online with the NHS.

02:37And if you have a problem with the NHS app, there's no one to talk to.

02:40Surprise, surprise.

02:42You can't get back in touch with them and say, it isn't working.

02:45Yeah, I can imagine many people, as you say,

02:47tapping in a wrong letter or number on the passcode and getting into deep distress.

02:52Alistair, thank you for joining us.

02:53As articulate and as passionate as ever.

02:56Wonderful.

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