A new £1.5 million digital pharmacy has opened in Liverpool to help patients with long-term conditions such as cancer and diabetes get free delivery of repeat prescriptions.

Now Healthcare Group, which is behind the ‘Now Patient’ app, says the service will be particularly helpful to those who “have suffered through recent community pharmacy cuts and have difficulty accessing their medications”.

The company describes itself as having an NHS-approved “tele-pharmacy ‘super hub’” that will use “the latest robotic technology to help smooth the distribution process”.

Lee Dentith, founder and chief executive of Now Healthcare Group, said: “The NHS is evolving, and digital innovation is crucial to offering patients quality care and choice. [A total of] 15 million people in the UK are suffering with chronic conditions, and Now Patient enables them to be empowered to manage their own healthcare needs and to reduce the strain on our country’s overstretched health services."”

The company'’s ‘tele-pharmacy’ has been “kitted out with the optimum robotic technology to streamline processes and service and fulfil medicines for thousands of NHS patients,” Mr Dentith said.