25 Mar 2026
Harpenden journalist Charlotte Bateman examines the shift to digital NHS booking systems and whether they always reflect the reality for patients…
The NHS told me I would be waiting three weeks for a blood test. An hour later, I was offered one the same day.
It started at my GP surgery in Harpenden. “No more walk-ins. You need to book it through the app,” I was told. The app in question is SwiftQueue, now used to book blood tests at St Albans City Hospital.
I groaned inwardly. As a blind patient, I have learned to approach NHS systems with caution.
Apps, portals, online booking platforms. They are meant to make things more efficient, but for many of us, they do the opposite.
Still, I went home and tried.
The app was slow, clunky and difficult to navigate with a screen reader. Eventually, I found the next available appointment. Three weeks away.
So I did what many people do when a system doesn’t work. I looked for another way.
After some digging, I found a phone number. I called, expecting to be told everything had to go through the app. There was a burst of hold music, then a woman answered.
“What is the next available appointment?” I asked.
“You can come in today,” she said.
“Today?” I repeated.
“Yes.”
“What time?” I asked.
There was a pause. “What time can you do?” she replied.
I hadn’t said it was urgent. And yet that was it.
I checked the app again after calling. It still said three weeks, despite what I had just been told.
If I hadn’t found the phone number, I would have gone with what the app said and waited three weeks for a test I could have had the same day.
Later, my GP told me that new appointments are released early each morning, including a mix of urgent slots and any last-minute cancellations that free up space. But that only raises more questions. Why are patients not told to check back at a set time? Why does the app continue to show long waits when earlier slots are clearly available?
I am far from alone.
In 2024, local MP Daisy Cooper warned that the move away from walk-ins had led to waits of up to three weeks and serious accessibility issues for constituents. That concern is backed up by a 2025 survey from Healthwatch Hertfordshire, which found that half of respondents struggled to navigate online systems and would not recommend using them.
And this is not just a local issue. Across the UK, around 10 million adults lack the basic digital skills needed to use healthcare apps, and nearly a third say the NHS is one of the hardest organisations to deal with. Those most affected are often older or disabled.
At my local GP surgery, the barriers start the moment I walk in. A receptionist sits a few feet away, yet I am directed to a touchscreen with no accessible features.
The last time I asked to make an appointment, I was told it had to be done online under the new system. When I explained this is difficult, I was handed a paper form. My mum was with me.
Without her, I would have been stuck.
Under the NHS Accessible Information Standard, patients have a legal right to receive information in a format they can access. Yet experiences like this suggest that promise is not being met.
It is not good enough to expect patients to rely on someone else to navigate these systems. We have a right to privacy and independence when it comes to our own healthcare.
And as for what I experienced with SwiftQueue, it may be a technical glitch. But these discrepancies have consequences. The app says three weeks. The phone says today. For some patients, that gap is not just frustrating. It is the difference between catching something early and finding out too late.
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been contacted for comment.
