01 December 2022

NHS mail in England – important reminder from the Information and IT committee

The optical sector's Information and IT Committee would like to remind all holders of NHS mail accounts in England of the important changes to NHS mail.

NHS Mail - use it or lose it

NHS Digital has announced a change to the terms of usage for NHS mail accounts. Previously if accounts were not used for 90 days they would be marked as inactive and then deleted if not used after another 90 days.

These time periods are reducing. From 1 December 2022 if an account has not been used for 30 days it will be marked as inactive and deleted after a further 30 days. Deleted accounts can be restored for up to 30 days after that but will then be permanently deleted and you will have to apply again for a new NHS mail account.

To keep an account active you will need to ensure you carry out one of the following at least every 30 days.

• Log into the NHSmail portal
• Log into O365 application
• Use O365 applications (i.e.,Outlook with cached credentials)
• Send an email

A pragmatic way to ensure your email stays active is to use Outlook to check your emails regularly which will prevent your account being deactivated.

NHS Mail help

If practices have an issue with an NHS mail address, they are sometimes being directed by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to LOCs, but these are not issues LOCs can resolve.

The NHSBSA has apologised for the confusion and provided new contact details for NHS mail issues.

Administration of NHS mail accounts can only be done by the National Administration Service (NAS)

• To request a new account if your account has been deleted please contact [email protected]
• If you are unsure whether your account is still active, or you require support, you should first contact [email protected]
• Guides on how to register GOS contractors and performers (including locums), a user guide to NHS mail and some FAQs can be found here: https://support.nhs.net/article-categories/optometry/
• If you have not applied for an NHS mail account previously and wish to do so, that can be done via this link: https://forms.office.com/r/SzaDjwpZxM

Please note that if you are a GOS contractor with more than 10 practices, then the Egress encryption service remains the only solution at present. The Information and IT Committee secretariat is working to understand how and when a different solution will be in place. In the meantime, please contact if you [email protected] require more information.