By use case

Direct messaging

Use NHS Notify to support your organisation or service to send individual messages directly to each of your patients.

Who can use direct messaging

Direct messaging with NHS Notify is recommended for organisations, services or GPIT suppliers in secondary care.

You might send direct messages for:

  • online consultations
  • general primary care
  • acute secondary care appointments

What features you can use

Find out what features you can and cannot use when you send direct messages with NHS Notify.

Integration method

Integration method Included
NHS Notify API (recommended)
NHS Notify MESH

Message channels

Message channel Included
NHS App messages
Includes push notifications that are sent between 6am and 10pm to support sociable hours
Emails
Text messages (SMS)
Letters

Additional letter formats

Additional letter format Included
Braille
Large print
Audio CD
Letters in other languages

Learn more about accessible formats and letters in other languages.

Writing messages

Feature Included
Templates
Send the same thing to lots of people without writing a new message each time
Free-text input
Use free-text inputs in your own software to write messages
Personalisation
Add details like your recipients name, appointment times or reference numbers to your messages
Sender name
Tell recipients who your messages are from
Find out how to tell recipients who your messages are from

Sending messages

Feature Included
Automatic contact look up (mandatory)
NHS Notify automatically finds and uses your recipients contact details from their NHS number
Rate limiting
Set how many messages are sent per second to control how often recipients access your service, also known as transactions per second (TPS)
Up to 5TPS
Routing plans
Use routing plans to decide how and what order messages will be sent to your recipients.
Fallback rules
The rules that trigger when a fallback is used for each message channel in a routing plan

If you send direct messages with the NHS App you must create your own fallback functionality and adhere to the following:

1. Time sensitive NHS App messages should fallback when:

  • a recipient does not have the NHS App
  • a 'notified' status is not received within 1 hour
  • the message is not read by the recipient within 4 hours

2. Bulk NHS App messages should fallback when:

  • a recipient does not have the NHS App
  • a 'notified' status is not received within 1 hour
  • the message is not read by the recipient within 24 hours

3. Acute secondary care appointment NHS App messages should fallback when:

  • a recipient does not have the NHS App
  • a 'notified' status is not received within 1 hour
  • the message is not read by the recipient within 4, 12 or 24 hours
Parallel send
Send two or more messages at the same time to a recipient
Recipients you cannot message
NHS Notify prevents you from sending messages to specific recipients to make your messaging more effective

You cannot send direct messages to recipients with:

  • flagged records
  • reason for removal codes (also known as exit codes)
  • international addresses
  • invalid postcodes
  • invalid email addresses
  • an informal or formal death status
Find out more about recipients you cannot message

Message performance and charging

Feature Included
Power BI reporting
See how your messages are performing over time with our Power BI dashboards
Real time message status callbacks
Receive real time updates every time the status of a message changes
API only
Quarterly billing
Pay for the messages you send every quarter with cross charging
Find out how to pay

Using the NHS App for patient journeys

When you send direct messages with NHS Notify, how patients can interact with them and continue their journey depends on your message type.

General primary care messages

You must adhere to the following in your user journeys:

  • the message must only provide information, or its call to action must not involve a digital step (for example, “call your GP”)
  • message content must be in the message body or if you’re linking to other message content
  • any links should only open a patients web browser
  • links should only take patients to web-based content such as your website, NHS.UK, a GP’s website, or other relevant web pages
  • do not include links that open other mobile applications
Online consultation (OLC) messages

You must adhere to the following in your user journeys:

  • include the clinical response directly in the message body
  • use links to your website for additional content or full responses
  • links should only open a patients web browser
  • do not include links that open other mobile applications
  • only include deeplink’s that takes patients into your OLC journey within the NHS App to view a clinicians response
  • only allow patients to reply to OLC messages through an external website or as part of the broader OLC journey within the NHS App
Acute secondary care appointment messages (PEPs)

You must adhere to the following in your user journeys:

  • only use content that is standard and created by the Wayfinder programme
  • your NHS Trust owns any of the content linked to digital letters or questionnaires
  • your NHS App message must link directly to the letter or questionnaire, following the standard Wayfinder patient flow
  • all patient replies are handled via questionnaires controlled within the PEP platform, not through the NHS App

See what’s next for NHS Notify

If you’re thinking of using NHS Notify for direct messaging but cannot find the features you need, read our roadmap to find out what we’re working on next.