The NHS superstore for digital apps – what is it and why now?

Rebecca:
The NHS 10 Year Plan, published in July 2025, sets out the government’s plans for a digital app ‘HealthStore’ as part of the shift from analogue to digital [1]. I’m sitting down with YHEC Project Director Robert Malcolm to explore some of the potential benefits and challenges of making the HealthStore a reality in the NHS.

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Rebecca:
To start, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at YHEC?

Robert:
Absolutely. I’m Robert Malcolm, a Project Director here at YHEC. My main focus is health economic evaluation, primarily around Medtech, digital health and public health. I’ve been working at YHEC for about five and a half years. Before joining, I worked as a government economist in the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, specifically on labour market policies.

Rebecca:
Let’s talk about a very topical subject: the proposed NHS digital ‘superstore’ or ‘HealthStore.’ Could you briefly explain what it is and why it’s so important right now?

Robert:
Certainly. The HealthStore is a key part of the government’s 10-Year Plan, which identifies three major shifts for the NHS: moving from analogue to digital, treatment to prevention, and secondary care to primary care. The goal of this ‘superstore’ is to centralise and curate digital apps that can support patient care. The core idea is that groups of people will be able to access these apps, which will have been formally approved and recommended by the government and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). This means every app in the store must have the right level of robust evidence, demonstrating they are effective at improving health, and ultimately, good value for money.

Rebecca:
That sounds like it aligns with several NHS goals. How does it support the shift towards preventative care and tackling issues like long waiting lists?

Robert:
It supports several goals simultaneously. It’s not just the analogue-to-digital move; the apps also support the shift towards prevention. Many of these tools are designed to engage people earlier, helping to prevent conditions from deteriorating to a more severe stage.

Consider the challenges of reducing waiting lists in the NHS right now. People are waiting, in some cases, for a very long time, and their condition can worsen during that period. The HealthStore offers alternatives to just being stuck on a waiting list. These apps could potentially offer a complete solution in some cases; alternatively, they could help to maintain a person’s current symptoms or slow the condition’s progression. This could really help with the capacity issues the NHS is facing. Crucially, it helps us to stratify patients. For example, we might find that some people don’t need a referral to secondary care, and that digital support was adequate, meaning waiting lists are reduced. For conditions related to mental health or musculoskeletal issues, the right app could act as the first-line treatment, resolving symptoms without the need for intensive primary or secondary care intervention.

Rebecca:
There are a lot of apps out there – it’s hard to know which to choose. Does the sheer volume of apps in the market lend itself to a central vetting process like this?

Robert:
Precisely. We’re in a digital revolution with more and more apps being released. What we’re seeing is a rise in ‘Me Too’ apps – very similar interventions, all claiming to do the same thing in a slightly different way. From an NHS commissioning perspective, the question becomes: which ones should we actually be funding? Which are useful? It’s a real challenge for commissioners at the moment.

The HealthStore provides that evidence-guided decision at a national level. It determines which apps are proven to be beneficial to patient health and represent good value for money. This approach ensures a regimented, evidence-based policy for implementing digital apps, potentially preventing substantial differences in care across different NHS trusts and regions.

Rebecca:
It sounds like a solution, but what are the biggest challenges you foresee in implementing and managing an app superstore of this scale?

Robert:
The challenges are significant, and they fall into three main areas. The first is funding mechanisms. If you make these apps open access for people with different conditions, how do you fund it cost effectively? An app might be incredibly effective for one group but less so for another. The wider the access, the less cost effective that app potentially becomes. Unlike pharmaceuticals, where funding is often straightforward – one drug, one packet – every digital app has a slightly different funding model. We need to think about how a national superstore will work in reality so that it is balancing cost effectiveness, which people are targeted, and ensuring equitable access to the apps.

The second is market resilience. Pharmaceutical companies are huge, and if one drug provider fails, others often pick up production for generics – think of paracetamol, for example. Apps, however, are often developed by smaller companies, which comes with a different risk profile. If you approve just one app for, say, lower back pain, and that company goes bust, or faces production issues, you’re left with a gap in the market. This raises the question of how many similar apps to roll out. Having multiple apps increases patient choice but complicates the process if they are priced differently or have different effectiveness profiles.  

Finally, there’s signposting and education. For the superstore to be equitable, you need to ensure people aren’t left behind because they don’t know about it or can’t access it. A national education campaign would be essential to onboard different societal groups. A lack of digital literacy or support, particularly for groups like older adults, or those without access to a computer or mobile phone, could inadvertently widen health inequalities if people are unable to engage with these interventions.

Rebecca:
Despite those hurdles, what opportunities does an app superstore present for the future of healthcare?

Robert:
There is a big opportunity that a superstore could help drive some of those longer-term priorities in the NHS. Right now, there’s a huge supply of similar interventions across MedTech. As an example, YHEC completed an Early Value Assessment (EVA) for digital apps for non-specific back pain, of which around ten options were considered [2]. A NICE-approved, streamlined pathway through a HealthStore is a real strength for putting forward the technologies we think are best value for money. It cuts through the overwhelming choice, using evidence-based policy to deliver for patients.

It also presents a significant opportunity for smaller app companies to land a large share of the healthcare market. There is a lot of grant funding available now, such as through EVAs, specifically for companies to gather the necessary evidence. This support is vital for smaller innovators who might not have the internal funds to conduct high-quality trials, helping them along the pathway to potential HealthStore recommendation.

Rebecca:
Looking ahead, how do you see apps for digital healthcare evolving over the next five to ten years?

Robert:
Digitisation in healthcare is a clear government and industry priority, so that will absolutely continue. The goal is to become more efficient at producing health – getting more output from the same input. Digital apps have the potential to support this by expediting early access to treatment and preventing more severe consequences.

I also foresee a greater streamlining and focus on evidence. With NICE’s evidence standards framework and increased focus on evaluating these technologies, app developers will be incentivised to collect more robust, in-depth evidence. The evolution isn’t just about the apps themselves but about establishing the strength of the evidence base to prove the benefits they provide.

Rebecca:
Finally, what do you hope the future holds for apps in healthcare, and what’s the ultimate benefit you see?

Robert:
For me, the biggest benefit is capacity management. The NHS will always have constrained budgets and waiting lists are likely to remain an issue. Apps offer a brilliant way to support people in the interim. For example, if you’re waiting 12 weeks to see a physiotherapist, you’re not left to fend for yourself; you have a proven, supportive alternative app, that can be used standalone and can also help to support care once you reach your next point of contact. This will not only help drive down waiting lists but will also support people while they wait, preventing symptoms from worsening. Furthermore, many of these apps can be used alongside other treatments, like using an app with physiotherapy or CBT, leading to more effective overall care. This is how we can drive better treatment outcomes within a constrained system without committing substantial extra resources.

Ultimately, these nationalised pathways and a digital app HealthStore could help reduce the hurdles smaller companies face, getting their effective apps to the front line of healthcare where they can provide the most benefit.

Rebecca:
Thank you for providing such a comprehensive overview of the digital health landscape. Before we wrap up, how can YHEC help clients exploring these topics?

Robert:
YHEC is an External Assessment Group for NICE, so we are very familiar with the new HealthTech pathways and the evidence generation required to meet NICE thresholds. We can support clients with everything from economic modelling and clinical study design to outcomes research and communicating findings effectively. We have extensive experience to guide companies through the hurdles of commercialisation, both at the local level and through national HTA pathways. It’s also never too early to think about commercialisation! There are a lot of different hurdles, but outlining the value for money of a new intervention is crucial, and it’s important to have an experienced partner to guide you through the process.

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Contact the YHEC team to find out more about how we can support with HTA submissions when evaluating digital health technologies and medical devices.