Individual patient messages sent via Accurx now go via the NHS App first, wherever the patient has it installed and notifications switched on. This is available to all GP workspaces in England, and your workspace admins can turn it on or off, and choose a SMS fallback time, from your workspace settings.

All individual messages sent via Accurx will now go via the NHS App as the first attempt to send the message. There will be no change to how you currently send individual messages. If the patient doesn't have the NHS App or notifications are disabled, we'll send it via SMS instead.

We check for the following conditions: 👇

Workspace admins can manage NHS App individual messaging from their workspace settings.

You will be able to send the following messages to the NHS App inbox of patients who have their NHS App notifications switched on:

The table below shows the message types and the pathway the message can be sent via 👇

The following messages will only go via SMS and not the NHS App 👇

All message types that are already integrated with the NHS App (Batch messages and Appointment Reminders) will continue to be sent via the NHS App.

We're committed to delivering messages via the NHS App in a clinically safe manner. If a patient hasn't read a message in the NHS App within your workspace's chosen fallback time, an SMS message is sent to them as a backup. Workspace admins can choose a fallback time of 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes in workspace settings.

This fallback SMS is triggered using real-time read receipt information from the NHS App. We'll also send it automatically via SMS if the NHS App can't deliver a push notification to the patient's phone.

Patient responses return to the inbox in exactly the same place whether the message was delivered via the NHS App or as an SMS.

There isn’t an option to override sending a message to the NHS App if a patient has the App and notifications on. However, a user can override a number pulled from the patient record displayed in Compose. If this number is altered manually in the compose screen, we will default to sending via SMS only.

When messages are sent via the NHS App (the patient has the App downloaded and notifications turned on), you will see an update in the conversation thread as "sent- To: NHS App". We will not update the status once a message has been delivered or read.

If a patient doesn't read the message in the NHS App within the fallback time, a backup SMS is sent. There won't be any updates on the status of this SMS message, as a patient has already been notified in the NHS App, and this SMS is only a backup mechanism.

If a patient doesn't have the NHS App downloaded or notifications switched on, the message is sent immediately via SMS to reduce the risk of an unseen message. The conversation thread will update as it currently does for SMS messages, including failed delivery notifications if an SMS fails.

If we cannot send a message to a patient's NHS App (either because they don't have the NHS App or notifications are off), or the patient doesn't read their NHS App message within the fallback time, we will send them a fallback SMS. The cost of the fallback SMS is the same as sending an SMS from compose.

Yes - any workspace admin can turn NHS App individual messaging off at any time from workspace settings.

Please note: this only relates to the NHS App individual messaging feature. There isn't a way to turn off NHS App messaging for Batch Messages or Appointment Reminders.

The NHS App is becoming a prominent channel for communicating about a patient’s health, and the NHS App team is seeing more downloads every day. Patients should be increasingly familiar with receiving messages via the NHS App, as over half of the messages sent via Accurx are now integrated with it.

We recommend communicating with your patients and encouraging them to download the NHS App and switch their notifications “On”. You could do this in several ways:

However, if a patient does not want to download the NHS App, they will continue to receive messages via SMS as they do now.

Patients have a wide range of resources available to them, both on the Accurx Help Centre and the NHS App Support Centre. Here are some suggested articles to help them when using the NHS App feature to view messages sent to them via Accurx. 👇

Patients can contact the Accurx User Support team by going to the Help Centre and clicking the messenger icon in the bottom-right corner. 👇

If the patient is experiencing an issue specific to the NHS App, they can contact the NHS App Support Team by going to the NHS website and selecting the Help Desk option.

If you still have any questions or concerns, feel free to chat with us using the green message bubble in the bottom right-hand corner of this page. 👉