NHSE has revealed the launch of a “new official NHS WhatsApp channel” to provide the public with up-to-date health information.
Announced in an NHSE primary care email bulletin last week (August 14), the channel will “get trusted health information straight to the public’s phones”, it said.
“Short visual health updates on public health campaigns” will be shared in the chat, along with “health alerts and seasonal advice, key NHS announcements and myth-busting and fact-checking content”, it added.
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The channel does not appear to have been advertised to the wider public yet, but the NHSE bulletin asked healthcare professionals to “share [it] with patients”.
The initiative was introduced by the NHSE social media team, the announcement said, calling on primary care workers to email them “ideas or stories” for the channel.
As of today (August 18), the channel has 56,000 followers and encourages people to “stay up to date with information and services to help [them] manage [their] health”.
Read more: NHSE launches 24/7 support for ‘overwhelmed’ pharmacists
It comes after NHSE launched a “confidential 24/7 text support service” in December for pharmacists feeling “worried or overwhelmed”.
The support is available to “colleagues who may have had a tough day, are feeling worried or overwhelmed, or have a lot on their mind and need to talk it through”, it said at the time.
Meanwhile, wholesaler AAH Pharmaceuticals announced in December 2023 that it was launching a WhatsApp group to keep customers updated on delivery delays and broken IT systems, among other things.
