Millions of patients will receive devices and apps free on the NHS in a major drive to use technology to reduce patient deaths.

NHS England’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, is to announce a new fast-track plan to allow patients to use apps and devices to detect health problems, monitor health conditions, and protect themselves from infections.

Some gadgets will be handed directly to patients, while others will be available in GP surgeries and hospitals.

Health officials said the NHS needed to embrace modern innovations in the way the world had taken to ‘Uber’ and ‘Airbnb’ in order to save the NHS money and improve patient care.

The NHS will start making the apps and devices available to patients in England from next year. If widely adopted, they could save tens of thousands of lives a year, Stevens said.

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