Using a Digital Health Passport to improve asthma care

We supported Tiny Medical Apps to evaluate their Digital Health Passport app, designed to improve and support asthma care for children and young people.

The challenge

The UK has the worst asthma mortality in Europe for 10-24 year olds, accompanied by one of the highest prevalence and emergency admission rates. Around one million children and young people in the UK are receiving treatment for asthma but less than 25% have a personalised asthma action plan in place.

What we did

The Digital Health Passport (DHP) is an asthma/allergy self-management app for teenagers, young adults, and the parents/carers of pre-teens. Co-designed with patients, it aims to improve the delivery of asthma care, patient experience, and outcomes at scale. The app supports asthma reviews by covering key educational elements and keeping the plan on the patient’s phone. By improving asthma control, it is anticipated that fewer face-to-face annual reviews and fewer out of hours and emergency appointments will be needed for people using the app.

We independently assessed the app’s impact, effectiveness and value by acting as an evaluation partner to Tiny Medical Apps during an initial regional rollout.

Evidence from this independent evaluation was strengthened with additional data, analysis and evaluation design work in 2025 to support long-term evidence generation and ensure findings met NHS and NICE standards.  

We also ran a real-world service evaluation of its clinical outcomes and economic value. This evaluation demonstrated DHP’s economic value, projecting a return on investment of £8.21 for every £1 spent over three years. Find out more.

Impact

Between 2023 and 2025, we captured outcomes from 1,751 children, young people and carers using the DHP.  

Our findings showed statistically significant improvements in asthma control, with the greatest benefits among those with poorly controlled asthma.  

There was a clear improvement in user’s knowledge, skills and confidence in managing their asthma. This can predict an improvement in asthma outcomes such as admissions and exacerbations. Users also reported fewer days missed from school or work. Find out more in our report.

Our evidence contributed to the DHP being included in NICE’s draft Early Value Assessment guidance, providing a clear pathway towards wider NHS adoption and helping more children and young people benefit from effective asthma support.  

Dr Greg Burch, Joint CEO, Tiny Medical Apps, said: 

“UCLPartners and the NHS Innovation Accelerator have played a crucial role in helping us build the evidence and system relationships needed to move from local delivery to national recognition.”  

 Kate Cheema, Director of Evaluation and Insights, UCLPartners, said: 

“Robust evaluation is crucial for the success of any healthcare innovation. This evaluation shows that using the Digital Health Passport for asthma has a positive impact on the experience and outcomes of young people and provided learning for Tiny Medical Apps on the methods used to build patients knowledge and confidence in managing their condition. I’m excited to see what’s next for the Digital Health Passport as this innovation develops”.