The UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has given health and social care professionals in England mobile access to the British National Formulary (BNF).

NICE's new iPhone and Android app will provide off-line access via their smartphone to the BNF, which is the most widely-used medicines information resource in the NHS.

Dr Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer at the Department of Health, said: "I am delighted NICE has taken this step to provide prescribers with a free and modern way to access this essential resource.

“The new NICE BNF app gives those who have prescribing and medicines responsibilities fast, reliable and convenient access to the most up-to-date prescribing information – ensuring medicines continue to be administered and used safely and accurately."

The app is free to download from either the iTunes Store or Google Play, but users will need to enter their NHS user name and password to activate it and download content.

Sir Andrew Dillon, NICE chief executive, said: "Ensuring staff have access to the latest high quality information to deliver the best possible patient care has always been very important to NICE.

"The growing use of Smartphones has created a new culture and means for people to access information while on the move.”

Earlier this year in March the NICE Guidance app gave mobile access to the Institute's entire range of recommendations and advice, and Dillon said this move had proved to be “phenomenally successful”.

An app for the British National Formulary for Children (BNFC) is in the late stages of development and will be released soon, NICE said.