1.2 billion visits to NHS website in last 12 months

8 Nov 2022 03:47 PM

The NHS website is the UK's biggest health website, with an average of 23 million visits each week.

1.2 billion visits to the NHS website in 12 months

The Covid vaccine booking service, a BMI calculator and the NHS App were among the most popular pages on the NHS website in the last year.

New figures released by NHS Digital show there were an estimated 1.2 billion visits to the website during the 12 months between October 2021 and September 2022 – an average of 2,300 views every minute.

They included 131 million visits to the book a coronavirus vaccination page which you can use to book a Covid jab by entering your NHS number or other details registered with your GP.

The BMI healthy weight calculator was the most viewed non-Covid page, with 22 million visits. The calculator lets you check your body mass index (BMI) and find out if you are a healthy weight.

There were 17 million views of the webpage about the NHS App, 10.6 million views of the page explaining how to find your NHS number, and 9.2 million of the page on applying for a free UK Global Health Insurance Card for healthcare cover abroad.

The page about the flu vaccine, which is offered every year through the NHS to help protect people at risk of getting seriously ill from flu, also received 6.5 million views.

The ten most viewed pages about medical conditions after Covid were:

High blood pressure (3.8 million)

Chickenpox  (3.8 million)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (3.3 million)

High temperature in children (3.2 million)

Diarrhoea and vomiting (3.2 million)

Tonsillitis (2.8 million)

Urinary tract infections (2.7 million)

Rashes in babies and children (2.7 million)

Sore throat (2.6 million)

Chest infection (2.6 million)

Robert Cleary, NHS Digital’s content director for the NHS website, yesterday said:

“The NHS website is the UK's biggest health website, with an average of 23 million visits each week during the past 12 months.

“Millions of people have used the website for the latest Covid information or to book a vaccination, as well as for advice on topics ranging from high blood pressure to chest infections.

“We also make information from the NHS website available to hundreds of other websites and apps as well as on smart speakers, making it as easy as possible for people to access the latest medical advice.”

The NHS website includes over 4,000 pages and provides information about 990 medical conditions as well as other health services, including finding a GP, dentist or  pharmacy, and a pregnancy due date calculator.

Each month, millions of people also access advice from the NHS website using other websites, apps and internet-connected devices through a free syndication programme. The initiative allows content from the NHS website to be accessed directly so that it remains up to date if any changes are made.

Local authorities, charities and well-known companies are among the organisations which use content from the NHS website. They must agree to standard terms and conditions before gaining access, which include attributing information to the NHS website.

Organisations can either syndicate single articles or whole sections usings APIs and widgets. Advice about syndicating content from the NHS website is available in the NHS website developer portal.

More information about the NHS website is available in NHS Digital’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Notes for Editors