John Browett has been named the new chair of the NHS's online hospital.

NHS Online has now been formally established as the Online NHS Trust. It will provide virtual specialist care for patients through the NHS App and video consultations.

The service is expected to provide up to 8.5 million virtual appointments and assessments in its first three years of service delivery.

John Browett is a former chief executive of Tesco.com and has also held senior leadership roles at Dixons, Apple and Dunelm. He is currently chair of the Institute of Directors and is the former chair of Octopus Group and former non-executive director at EasyJet.

Browett said: “I’m delighted to take up the role of Chair of the Online NHS Trust, which will deliver NHS Online, as we take this important step towards bringing patients faster and easier access to specialist care.

“In my previous roles across technology and retail, I’ve seen how much people value services that are intuitive, responsive and built around their needs and look forward to helping shape this new way of delivering NHS care.

“The new trust board brings a wealth of expertise from across and beyond the health sector and together we will build an organisation focused on making a real difference to patients.”

Dr Penny Dash, NHS England Chair, said: “NHS Online will transform the way we deliver planned care for people in England to improve quality of and access to care. The service is one step closer now that it has been established as an NHS trust and the chair and non-executive board members have been appointed.

“John Browett’s extensive expertise in customer focused and digitally enabled service industries will be invaluable as he leads the establishment of NHS Online, as well as working with other NHS leaders to ensure it is integrated into the wider NHS and works for patients.”