Why NHS Login Changes Everything for Digital Self-Management - With Matt Bourne TMA’s CTO

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In this episode of Up, Up and Away, Dom talks to Matt Bourne, CTO at Tiny Medical Apps, about the company’s remarkable eight-year journey to integrating NHS Login into the Digital Health Passport (DHP) — a major milestone in connecting young people with long-term conditions directly to the NHS.

What sounds like a technical integration is, in reality, the culmination of years of persistence, setbacks, and breakthroughs. Matt shares how TMA began as a small team building multiple patient-facing apps, before realising that regulatory complexity made that model unsustainable — and why creating one trusted, NHS-connected platform became the way forward.

From the early days of hackathons to navigating reorganisations, changing sponsors, and evolving NHS standards, this is a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to deliver digital innovation within the health system.

💡 In this episode, Matt shares:

• How Tiny Medical Apps became one of the first SMEs to be offered NHS Login access — and what being an early adopter really meant.
• Why medication adherence became the company’s north star after coroner reports revealed most asthma deaths in young people were preventable.
• How NHS Login transforms the DHP, allowing patients to securely access care plans, reorder medication, and build trusted connections with their GP records.
• What the integration process actually involves — from hazard logs and sandbox testing to balancing safety with accessibility for teenage users.
• How behaviour change theory (COM-B) underpins the app’s design, combining nudges, reminders, and gamified learning to improve long-term health outcomes.
• Why TMA partners with charities like Asthma + Lung UK and Epilepsy charities to deliver clinically accurate content at scale, instead of building it themselves.
• How TikTok and social platforms have helped them reach and engage young people who are often considered “hard to reach” by traditional health services.

🧠 Key Takeaway

“NHS Login isn’t just a piece of tech. It’s a key that finally lets patients access — and use — their own health data safely and meaningfully.
 It’s what allows us to move from information to empowerment.”
 — Matt Bourne, CTO, Tiny Medical Apps

🚀 Why This Matters

This episode is a powerful reminder that health innovation takes time, collaboration, and resilience.
 TMA’s journey shows how small companies can play a big role in transforming patient care — proving that persistence and open standards can open doors that once felt closed.

For young people managing asthma, epilepsy, sickle cell, or other long-term conditions, NHS Login is more than a sign-in screen. It’s a step toward independence, better medication adherence, and fewer preventable emergencies.