The new NHS App messaging service provides a secure inbox that allows patients to receive messages from health and care services, like your GP surgery, via the NHS App, instead of SMS text message.
This is to reduce costs, as the NHS spends millions of pounds on SMS text messages each year.
The change has been made by the NHS automatically – so if you have the NHS App and have stopped receiving text message reminders from us, this is why!
To view your messages, log in to the NHS App or NHS account and go to ‘messages’. You can also get to your messages from the homepage of the website by selecting ‘view your messages’.
To turn on notifications: we strongly recommend you turn on notifications for the NHS App so you are alerted when you have been sent a message. For help, go to NHS App: Turn on notifications. Once set up, an alert will pop up on your device when you receive a message; or your NHS app icon will have a red dot to indicate you have a message to read. Note: you cannot get notifications when when accessing your NHS account through a web browser.
If a message is not successfully delivered to the NHS App for any reason, you will be sent a text message instead.
Other benefits:
- Safer and more secure: messaging via the NHS App is more secure than other channels like SMS. SMS can be vulnerable to interception and spoofing but sending your patients messages to their NHS App secure inbox is much more secure. For patients, this means they will always know who messages come from, rather than seeing a messages from unidentified mobile numbers.
- More reliable: NHS App messaging means even if a patient changes their contact details, we will still be able to contact them.
- Better content: When sending messages via SMS, the length is limited. NHS App messages can be longer and provide more information.