New Year cheer £2 bus tickets for thousands of routes

MILLIONS of people across England can now save money and 'Get Around for £2,' thanks to £60 million Government funding to cap single bus fares until the end of March 2023. From:- 1 January 2023 until 31 March 2023, over 130 bus operators outside of London will charge no more than £2 for their single tickets across over 4,600 routes, helping families, commuters and other passengers save money on travel. With the average single bus fare for a 3-mile journey costing around £2.80 outside London, passengers will save almost a third of the single ticket price, with even bigger savings in some rural areas where tickets can reach over £5.

The initiative encourages people to get back on the bus to help the industry continue its recovery from the Pandemic. It will also reduce CO2 emissions and tackle congestion by taking an estimated 2 million cars off the road.

Some of the biggest savings on the longest routes up and down the country thanks to the fare cap include:-

 Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:- "By helping passengers outside London save almost a third off the average single bus ticket and taking 2 million cars off the road, the £2 bus fare cap is a fantastic way to start the new year. Buses are a key part of our vision for a clean, efficient and modern transport network that is affordable for everyone. That's why we're investing £60 million to encourage everyone to hop on the bus and:- 'Get Around for £2'."

The scheme forms part of the Government's Help for Households campaign, as the new cap can deliver real savings for those most affected by the rising cost of living. This fare cap builds on the allocation of more than £2 billion to support bus services in England through the Pandemic and a commitment to fund improved services, new bus priority measures and new electric or hydrogen buses as part of the ambitious National Bus Strategy, published in 2021. Martin McTague, National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said:- "More than a third of small firms consider public transport important to their business. It is therefore encouraging to see support on bus fares as we battle tough economic conditions. This move will likely encourage shoppers to go to towns and cities - just the fuel we need for economic growth."

The Government will continue to work closely with bus operators and local authorities and consider future support to help passengers continue accessing reliable and affordable bus services after March 2023.

Norman Baker from Campaign for Better Transport, said:- "Affordable bus travel really is a win win. Capping bus fares in this way will help struggling households, cut traffic congestion and carbon emissions, and inject new life into dwindling bus services."

NHS App hits over 30 million sign ups

MILLIONS more patients across England are benefitting from easier access to their health records and medical services through the NHS App, as sign ups top 30 million - including 7 million new sign ups in 2022.
 
The app, which launched 4 years ago, was 1 of the most popular free health apps of 2022, with more people accessing its range of features, including over 65 million GP record views. The Government has already met its target to have 68% of people in England registered with the NHS App by March 2023 and is firmly on track to meet its 2nd target to have 75% of people registered by 2024.
 
The app offers a digital front door for interacting with the NHS and has seen a host of new features launched in the last 12 months; empowering patients to access services from the comfort of their homes.
 
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:- "Technology is transforming the way we use the NHS and with over 30 million sign ups to the NHS App across the country, including 7 million this year alone, there is huge potential to modernise services for patients and staff. In the last year alone 21 million repeat prescriptions have been ordered through the app, saving valuable time for clinicians and helping people access their treatment as easily as possible. On top of this we have added innovative new features; from accessing GP records to booking Covid jabs; which will help us ease pressures on GPs and other primary care services and provide more effective, personalised care. If you haven't already I'd encourage you to download the app and see how it can help you access the services you need."
 
The NHS App is supporting hardworking NHS staff as they work tirelessly to clear the Covid backlogs, freeing up valuable clinician time as well as empowering patients to have greater control over their health and care records.
 
A total of 1.7 million GP appointments were booked through the NHS App this year and a record breaking 22 million repeat prescriptions ordered, up from 9 million over the same period last year. 128,000 people also registered their organ donation decision through the NHS App.
 
Patients in many parts of the country are also able to view and manage their hospital appointments on the app; helping to build a modern, digital NHS. The new features include viewing all referrals and future Hospital appointments in one place, accessing supporting information for appointments; such as:- Hospital maps; along with booking, changing and cancelling appointments.
 
The new features are available to patients at 20 NHS Trusts across the country from York and Scarborough to Royal Cornwall; with another 24 trusts expected to be available by March 2023; and has been used over 800,000 times. 
 
Lords Minister For Technology Nick Markham said:- "Millions of patients have continued to sign up to the NHS App, helping to generate a record number of views and modernise how our health service works. We will continue to innovate and incorporate new features to ensure that patients can access convenient, high quality care when and where they need it."
 
Simon Bolton, Interim Chief Executive at NHS Digital, said:- "The NHS App continues to change the way people in England access healthcare services. Since it was launched four years ago, millions of people have used it to book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions and view GP records. We've also added new features to the app to help people manage hospital appointments, book Covid vaccinations and receive messages from GPs. The NHS App is a great example of how technology can be used to help people take control of their healthcare and access NHS services quickly and easily."

Dr Vin Diwakar, Medical Director For Transformation, at NHS England, said:- "It's fantastic that the NHS App is already in the pockets of millions of people, providing easy access to crucial everyday NHS services like repeat prescriptions and GP appointment bookings. Our vision is to transform the NHS App into a front door for the NHS, with many exciting new features and changes planned - delivering on the NHS' Long Term Plan commitment to continue to harness the power of technology for patients and staff; which remains at the heart of our plans to innovate patient care for the 21st century."
 
People can also receive notifications from their GPs, a feature which has been rolled out across nearly 2,000 practices. Thanks to this effort over 700,000 messages to update patients including appointment reminders and test results have been successfully processed.
 
People are also benefitting from the ability to book a Covid vaccine appointment through the NHS App. More than 28,000 bookings have been made via this route in just 4 weeks since the feature was added in November 2022, accounting for 9% of all bookings since this feature was enabled.
 
Thanks to these kind of features, millions of people are benefitting from easier and quicker access to NHS services; and the Government will continue to build on the progress which has already been made.
 
New features in the app available in 2023 will ensure patients can access more NHS services at their fingertips; including:- booking their flu vaccination and accessing Hospital correspondence, such as pre-consultation questionnaires.