If you are an individual member of staff working in a trust or other organisation that already uses NHSmail and you wish to register an account, you should contact your Local Administrator or IT Helpdesk.

The National NHSmail Helpdesk is unable to register new accounts on behalf of your organisation. It remains the responsibility of your organisation's Local Administrators, to perform all administrative actions on NHSmail accounts within their level of responsibility and this includes creating new NHSmail accounts on behalf of users.

In order to use NHSmail, all users must adhere and agree to abide by the rules set out in the NHSmail Acceptable Use Policy.

Overview

An increasing number of health and social care organisations are adopting NHSmail as their primary email system. This reduces duplicate email systems running across the sector and enables organisations to use IT staff for managing other more complex IT projects.

Accenture and NHS Digital have worked together to produce the tools and materials to support organisations on-boarding to NHSmail. You can reference all of this documentation below.

Further information on self-migrations can be obtained by emailing feedback@nhs.net. Additional detail for the supported and managed migration approach can be acquired by emailing your queries to nhsmail.development@accenture.com.

This document provides a comparison between self-migrations, supported migrations, managed migrations & 3rd party migrations. It has been designed to help organisations plan their migration to NHSmail.

This document is a discovery questionnaire that needs to be completed by all organisations who are self-migrating to NHSmail.

This document has been developed to assist organisations who are planning to migrate to NHSmail with their project documentation.

Provides the outline and guidance for organisations to follow in order to be successful and achieve the migration using a Self-Service Migration approach.

These documents are to assist organisations with planning and tracking their self-migration to NHSmail. There is a guidance document with links to project plan templates in both MS Project and MS Excel format. The project plans encompass the whole of the project life cycle and are aligned to the NHSmail Migration Checklist. Before using the project plans, please read the guidance document which explains how to use them.

This documents provides a checklist of activities for organisations migrating to NHSmail, and guidance on how to complete it.

Activities to be carried out before commencing the movement of data into the NHSmail service to reduce the risk of transferring undesirable content, including Malware.

This spreadsheet is for all migrating organisations to enable them to reconcile their existing email users with their NHSmail estate, to aid the planning of the migration to NHSmail.

This guide provides an overview of the standard migration managed timeline, a detailed explanation of process and key considerations for each stage, and then useful information for the key workstreams of a managed migration project.

As more non-NHS organisations take part in delivering NHS-funded care, their commissioners are also making it a requirement that information sharing is secure – and therefore making it a condition of contract that NHSmail is used as the means to share information between care providers. The basis on which staff working in a non-NHS organisation can be granted access to the NHSmail service is contained in the NHSmail Access Policy.

If you think your organisation qualifies (or if you have any questions about your eligibility to use NHSmail), then please complete the form within the NHSmail Access Process Document, and read and sign the Acceptable User Policy and send them both to feedback@nhs.net. If you are eligible to join, a member of our team will help get your organisation started.

NHSmail can be used by Optometrists to safely and securely exchange patient or sensitive information with other health and social care professionals. Please read through all of the information below, and then follow the steps in either section one or two, to get started. Please note the information below is applicable to Optometrists in England only. If you are based in Scotland, please contact nhsmail.scotland@nhs.net.

NHSmail plan to support the enablement of secure email accounts for optometry practices. A registration portal and national administration service will be piloted in Spring 2018 subject to demand and central funding. In the meantime, the below process still applies.

To register for an NHSmail account: if you work for an Optometrist only

1. Fill in the application form. Once complete, email the form to your regional NHSmail contact. Note: if you work for a national chain of Optometrists, you still need to apply for accounts locally on an individual basis
2. Your regional contact will review your request, make sure they have all the information they need and then pass it to the appropriate NHSmail Local Administrator (LA) to set up the account
3. If you aren't eligible for an account they will let you know. You may not be eligible for an account if you only need to exchange patient or sensitive information on an infrequent or ad hoc basis, with health and social care organisations, or if you already use another email service that is publicly funded
4. Before you are registered you will need to have completed the Information Governance toolkit. If you are registering as part of a practice, only one person per practice needs to do this. If you are registering as part of a group of practices, only one nominated headquarters needs to do this. This is an accreditation that is required for access to any NHS national service to ensure that these services remain secure. Please see: http://www.igt.hscic.gov.uk
5. Your LA will contact you with details of your new account and how to activate it. The LA will text you a security code and then call you with your account details. Once you have confirmed the security code you have received, they will give you your username and a password which you will need to change the first time you log in
6. If you have registered a number of accounts for your practice, the LA can allocate administrator rights to one or more of them if required – this will allow that account holder to unlock accounts and reset passwords
7. Once you have activated your account and logged in, you will find a welcome email
8. You can set up a shared account for your practice or site. The email address will always end @nhs.net but you can specify the part of the email address before the @ sign. As an example, the email address for John Smith of the High Street Optometrist could be John.Smith@nhs.net with the display name (the name displayed to the recipient in their inbox) 'SMITH John (High Street Optometrist)'. A shared email account for that Optometrist could be highstreetoptometrist@nhs.net (High Street Optometrist)

NHSmail can be used by dentists to safely and securely exchange patient or sensitive information with other health and social care professionals. Please read through all of the information below, and then follow the steps in either section one or two, to get started. Please note the information below is applicable to dentists in England only. If you are based in Scotland, please contact nhsmail.scotland@nhs.net.

NHSmail are supporting NHS England with the mass enablement of secure email accounts for dental practices. This means NHSmail will be able to be used to aid the move towards electronic referral processes, to improve health and care.

A registration portal and national administration service is in development and will be piloted from February to March 2018, with a national rollout planned for April 2018.

Registration Routes

1. National Administration Service

This route is for dental practices who would like to join NHSmail via a central online registration portal, with a national administration service that will provide support to organisations.

This route is being piloted by selected organisations during February and March 2018 and will be rolled out nationally in April 2018.

Please note that we have not fully mapped all dentists to the registration portal and approximately 1,900 sites remain unmapped. Before registering, please ensure your Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered manager email address is up to date with the CQC (the registration portal is updated monthly)

Guidance for dental practices joining via this route:

How to complete the NHSmail Dentistry Registration Portal

Guide for Dentists using NHSmail

Dentistry FAQ

2. Local Registrations

This route is for dental practices who have access to a local NHS trust, clinical commissioning group or clinical support unit who is willing to sponsor them to join NHSmail. The local sponsor will be required to provide guidance for dental practices on joining NHSmail.

Guidance for dental practices joining via this route:

NHSmail dentistry local registrations

NHSmail can be used by pharmacists to safely and securely exchange patient or sensitive information with other health and social care professionals. Please note the information below is applicable to England only. If you are based in Scotland please contact nhsmail.scotland@nhs.net.

Introduction:

NHSmail accounts are being offered to community pharmacists to support the secure exchange of patient or sensitive data with other health and social care professionals.

Guide for Pharmacies using NHSmail - Suitable if you are new to using to NHSmail.

FAQs - Frequently asked questions for pharmacies using NHSmail.

The Pharmacy Portal is now live and available for all community pharmacies to register. Please note: as part of the pre-requisite activities for NHSmail, your pharmacy must be compliant with the Information Governance Toolkit (Level 2).

The Pharmacy Portal is available at: https://portal.nhs.net/pharmacyregistration

Guidance to complete the Pharmacy registration using the portal is available here. If you are unable to locate your pharmacy within the Pharmacy Portal, please contact pharmacyadmin@nhs.net and you will be supported through the process.

Pharmacy multiples:

Pharmacy multiples identified as a member of the CCA and/or AIMP have been contacted directly by NHS England to confirm their intent to provide the NUMSAS service, and understand their preferred option for the supply of NHSmail accounts (see below).

NHSmail Option 1
Bulk collection of data - Centrally managed process for the distribution of account details

Following confirmation of the use of a bulk collection route, NHS Digital has invited the lead pharmacy contact (known as the Super User) to complete and return a registration spreadsheet containing site and user contact details, including a mobile phone number and current email address for all individuals requiring NHSmail.

Completed data is being provided directly to NHS Digital via secure email exchange, who are checking the information and sharing this with the NHSmail service provider (Accenture). NHSmail accounts are then being issued directly to each user via the mobile phone number and current email address provided, also confirming the Pharmacy shared mailbox.

NHSmail Option 2
Bulk collection of data - Pharmacy managed process for the distribution of account details

Following confirmation of the use of a bulk collection route, NHS Digital have invited the lead pharmacy contact (known as the Super User) to complete and return a registration spreadsheet containing site and user contact information. A Data Sharing Agreement is required between NHS Digital and the CCA member.

Completed data is being provided to NHS Digital directly via secure email exchange, who are checking the information and sharing this with the NHSmail service provider (Accenture). The account registration process is carried out centrally and upon completion, NHS Digital return the account details via a secure encryption tool to the Super User. This lead pharmacy contact (Super User) is required to safely cascade the NHSmail account details to the individuals allocated NHSmail accounts at each of the pharmacy stores. It is expected that Information Governance rules and the data sharing agreement will be adhered to by the lead Pharmacy, and that account details and passwords are issued securely.

NHSmail Option 3
Individual registration - Self-submission via portal registration solution

An individual registration solution is now available whereby each pharmacy store can register for NHSmail accounts. The pharmacy store will need a nominated individual to complete the registration for the site, and be able to request account details for up to three users that DO NOT already have an NHSmail account, providing a mobile phone number and current email address to complete the NHSmail application process. NHSmail accounts will then be issued directly to each user, also confirming the pharmacy shared mailbox.

Registering community locum pharmacists:

Accounts will be requested on your behalf by the pharmacy participating in NUMSAS or QPS.

Registering hospital pharmacists:

Pharmacists based in NHS trusts should continue to contact their NHSmail local administrator via their IT department to register for NHSmail accounts.

Social Care

NHSmail are supporting NHS England with the enablement of secure email accounts for care providers to safely exchange patient or sensitive information with other health and social care professionals. Find out more about NHSmail on our Portal help pages.

Please read through all the information below, decide which registration route is best for your organisation and then start the relevant registration process. Upon completion of a successful application, each organisation will have one shared mailbox account per site and, in most cases, three user accounts per site (up to a maximum of ten user accounts with business justification).

Please note that the information below is applicable to care providers in England only. If you are based in Scotland, please contact nhsmail.scotland@nhs.net

Registration Routes

The NHSmail social care overview provides information on the benefits and different ways to join NHSmail. You should read this document to determine which registration route is best for your organisation. Once determined, please follow the relevant guidance below.

1. National Administration Service (NAS) registration process

NHSmail plan to open a central online registration portal and national administration service to care providers. A pilot is expected to start in spring 2018; roll-out is expected during summer 2018 depending on recommendations from the pilot.

If you wish to be considered for the pilot, please email feedback@nhs.net and we will add you to our contact list. Alternatively, please use the self-management or local registration models below.

Guidance for the National Administration Service:

Guide for social care organisations using the NHSmail national administration service

Social care FAQs relating to the NAS registration process

Guide on how to complete the NHSmail social care registration portal

2. Self-management process

This approach is for care providers who wish to carry out the administration activities for their own NHSmail accounts. Details on how social care organisations can join NHSmail through the self-management model are available via the self-management application process and form.

3. Local registrations process

This route is for care providers who have access to a local NHS trust, clinical commissioning group or clinical support unit who is willing to sponsor them to join NHSmail. The local sponsor will be required to provide guidance for care providers on joining NHSmail:

Local sponsorship model application process guidance (for care providers)

Local sponsorship model guidance for sponsors / local administrators

Local sponsorship model application form

Local administration responsibilities

In the NHSmail service the term local administrator (LA) means the resource that manages email accounts. Typical local administration duties include:

• Being the first point of contact for users.

• Keeping up to date about the NHSmail service by reading our LA communications and taking part in our LA webinars - https://portal.nhs.net/Help/communications.

• Examples of day to day activities include: re-setting passwords, creating accounts, creating distribution lists, managing joiners and leavers within your organisation. The NHSmail Portal LA Guide provides clear guidance and further information.

The following table explains day to day local administration responsibilities for your newly created NHSmail accounts according to the registration route chosen:

If you are a junior doctor wanting to join NHSmail, you should speak to the IT department of the organisation that you will be working for on your first rotation. If you have any issues, please contact feedback@nhs.net.

NHSmail can be used by independent midwives to safely and securely exchange patient or sensitive information with other health and social care professionals. Please see the Guide for Independent Midwives using NHSmail to get started. Please note the information is only applicable to London based independent midwives. If you are based in any other region of England then please contact your Regional Maternity Lead, and if you are based in Scotland then please contact nhsmail.scotland@nhs.net.