Social messaging apps played a crucial role coordinating the efforts of medical staff treating victims of the Croydon tram crash.

Medics have turned to communication channels to deal with emergency situations such as the Croydon tram crash, Grenfell Tower fire and terrorist attacks in London Bridge and Manchester Arena.

Dr Kathryn Channing, lead consultant for the Emergency Department at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: “At the time of the Croydon tram crash two years ago, we used WhatsApp as a quick and effective way of ensuring we had enough staff on site to look after the 38 people who came to the hospital that day.

The immediacy of instant messaging apps makes them a crucial tool when dealing with unexpected, fast-moving incidents, enabling separate services to respond to rapidly changing circumstances in an integrated manner.

New guidance for the NHS will help doctors, nurses and other staff use communication apps safely to co-ordinate patients’ care during emergencies.

Dr Simon Eccles, Chief Clinical Information Officer for Health and Care, said: “Helping people during a crisis like the Grenfell firedemands a quick response and instant messaging services can be a vital part of the NHS toolkit.

"Health service staff are always responsible about how they use patients’ personal details and these new guidelines will help our doctors and nurses to make safe and effective use of technology under the most intense pressure.”

Dr Helgi Johannsson, who was involved in reviewing the new NHS guidance, said: “Fully encrypted instant messaging services can be a particularly useful communication tool in delivering care to people during a major incident.

“From the Westminster attack we learnt it was important not to overload the emergency care co-ordinators with offers of help, so with Grenfell we used instant messaging to help coordinate which staff should come in, who was needed where and plan the service for later on that day which vastly improved the care we were able to provide.

“These sensible guidelines will make the care of our patients safer through better communication by NHS staff.”

The NHS has not endorsed any particular instant messaging tools; instead, the guidance sets out what information governance issues need to be considered and what standards need to be met.

The new guidance was published jointly by NHS England, NHS Digital, Public Health England, and the Department of Health and Social Care.