By: Chris Stokel-
A new “online hospital” for specialist care has become a cornerstone of the government’s plan to modernise the NHS. But what exactly is it, and will it deliver? Chris Stokel-Walker reportsFixing the NHS and its long care backlog has been one of the key pledges of the Labour government and the Department of Health and Social Care, and they think they have hit on a solution: NHS Online.NHS England’s website describes it as “a new online service for specialist care.”1 Brokered through the NHS app—which has become a cornerstone of the health department’s plan to modernise the NHS—the initiative would allow patients to be connected with clinicians specialising in a handful of areas across the country digitally.The initiative was heralded as a “huge step forward for the NHS” by Jim Mackey, NHS chief executive, when it was first mooted in September 2025. “Patients who choose to receive their treatment through the online hospital will benefit from us industrialising the latest technology and innovations, while the increased capacity will help to cut demand and slash waiting times,” Mackey said at the time.But many unanswered questions remain about how it will work. The amount of information in the public domain about how it works is so small that it’s difficult to tell what impact it’ll have, says Sara Shaw, professor of health policy and practice at the University of Oxford.Trish Greenhalgh, a medical doctor and professor of primary care health at the University of Oxford, adds that “the scope …
