NHSmail
NHSmail is an NHS funded and managed secure email service which is approved for use for exchanging patient data between health professionals.
The service is available over either the Health and Social Care Network or the open internet. It can be viewed through a free web based client or alternatively pharmacies can choose to connect the service to a local email client, for example Microsoft Outlook.
Terms of Service requirement to access NHSmail
Since 9th November 2020, the NHS Terms of Service have required that pharmacy owners must ensure their staff have access to, and are able to send and receive NHSmail from, the pharmacy shared NHSmail mailbox.
To meet this requirement, pharmacy owners must ensure that at least two members of staff at the pharmacy premises have live personal NHSmail accounts that are linked to the shared mailbox.
Pharmacy owners must therefore ensure that:
- they have a shared NHSmail mailbox for each of their pharmacy premises, which meets the [email protected] naming convention;
- those staff that will need to send and receive NHSmail from the shared mailbox have live personal NHSmail accounts which are linked to the shared mailbox;
- there are sufficient staff with linked personal NHSmail accounts to ensure that the shared mailbox can always be accessed when the pharmacy is open, including when locums are acting as the responsible pharmacist;
- staff are reminded of the need to regularly check the shared NHSmail account and respond accordingly to emails that have been received; and
- the linked personal NHSmail accounts are regularly reviewed so that where staff leave the employment of the contractor, their personal NHSmail account is unlinked from the shared NHSmail account in order to avoid any data breaches.
The most frequently asked questions are outlined within NHSmail FAQ factsheet.
Read additional related FAQs at: the NHSmail FAQs webpage.