ORCHA’s digital health insights featured in national newspapers

The nationals this week highlighted ORCHA’s research into the quality of health and care apps.

Health app usage has boomed by 25% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – equivalent to an extra five million downloads every day. But research shows that only around 20% of these apps are safe, secure, and meet clinical standards.

With approximately 370,000 health and care apps available online, it can be difficult to sort those that can be trusted as safe to use, from those that may potentially be harmful. ORCHA’s independent Review evaluates digital health solutions against 350+ criteria to determine their quality assurance. Reviewed, quality assured apps are distributed via ORCHA’s Digital Health Libraries, so that patients and professionals have transparency as to which health and care apps are safe to use.

Read more in the coverage below:

• The Telegraph – ‘Health apps actually bad for your health, says NHS’
• The Sunday Telegraph – ‘Health apps “not fit for purpose and can do harm”‘
• The Times – ‘Health warning on risks of medical apps’
• The Daily Mail Online – ‘Four out of five health and medical apps are “so bad they could put patients at risk”, NHS-backed review finds’
• The Daily Mail – ‘Four in five health apps “so bad they could put patients at risk”‘