We’re delighted to welcome you to NHSmail, the national secure collaboration service for health and social care.

NHSmail is more than just an email service – it incorporates many Microsoft O365 products such as Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. The capabilities that the service provides will transform the way you collaborate within and outside of your organisation.

Please spend some time familiarising yourself with the capabilities you now have at your fingertips by reading the below guidance.

The NHSmail team look forward to working with you and your organisation.

Getting Started

ü Familiarise yourself with the training and guidance materials

• • Visit the NHSmail Support Site for guidance on getting started and training on using the service.

ü Bookmark the service status pages

• • Visit the service status pages: If you experience any issues accessing NHSmail this should be the first place you check.

ü Update your personal profile details

• • Ensure all your contact details (telephone/pager number), including your job role, are up to date. For help, refer to the ‘Updating profile details’ section within the NHSmail Portal user guide.
  • Please note your organisation may do this automatically for you. For guidance, you should check with your Local Administrators or local IT support.

ü Record a UK mobile number to reset your password with your local IT or NHSmail helpdesks

• • Ensure you record a UK mobile number on your NHSmail account to be able to reset your password over the phone with help of your local IT or NHSmail helpdesks. 
  • You can hide your mobile number from the NHS Directory. 

ü Get ready to use self-service password reset

• • Register at least one authentication method to be able to reset your password online at any time without contacting your local IT or NHSmail helpdesks. 

ü NHSmail Transparency and Fair Processing guidance

• • Learn about the use of your personal information collected when registering your NHSmail account and the contact details published within the NHS Directory in the NHSmail Transparency and Fair Processing Document

ü Getting started with Teams

• • Teams enables you to chat to other colleagues across health and social care in real time and check their availability.
  • To get started please visit the Teams area of the NHSmail Support Site.

If you have not already, please complete the following actions:

ü Set your user account secret

• • To enable administrators of NHSmail to confirm your identity when you are requesting support, you must set a user account secret. This will be also used when resetting your password.
  • For help, refer to the guidance on ‘Setting a user account secret’ in the NHSmail Portal user guide.

ü Familiarise yourself with guidance on how to manage your mailbox quota

• • Visit managing your mailbox  to ensure you never breach your allocated quota.

Security guidance

ü Never reveal your password

• • You will never be asked by the NHSmail team for the password to your account.
  • If asked to provide this by anybody, you should never reveal it. Providing this information compromises the security of your account.

ü Multi-Factor Authentication

• • You will have set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) when you logged into your NHSmail account for the first time.
  • For further information about MFA, please visit the NHSmail support site – MFA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – NHSmail Support

ü Exercise caution with emails from unknown senders or those containing suspicious content

• • Whilst the NHSmail team work hard to reduce the number of malicious emails on the service, you should always be careful when opening emails, links, and attachments from unknown senders or those with suspicious content, even if they appear to be from someone you know.
  • You may receive emails that look authentic but are in fact phishing emails. These emails will typically attempt to elicit information from you that could compromise your account or encourage you to download malicious content.
  • You should not download any attachments or open any links unless you are confident, they are from an authentic source.
  • For guidance on how to keep your account and the NHSmail service safe from common cyber threats, including spam, junk, spoofing and phishing, please see the NHSmail cyber security guide.

ü Never reveal your user account secret

• • The user account secret allows administrators to confirm your identity when requesting support. Your Local Administrator will use this before performing any administration tasks on your account.
  • You will only ever be asked for individual characters of your user account secret.

ü Check that you are emailing the right person

• • You should always confirm that you are emailing the correct person when sending emails by confirming their email address and organisation in the NHS Directory (People Finder). This is especially important if you are sharing sensitive information.

ü If your account or data is identified as compromised

• • NHSmail has various security protections in place to protect service, this can include restricting service or applying authentication controls onto your account.

ü Follow your local clinical safety and information governance guidance

• • You should always ensure that you use NHSmail as per your local organisation’s clinical safety and information governance policies and guidance

ü NHSmail includes an encryption feature

• • This allows you to send information securely to people using non-secure email services e.g., Gmail. Guidance is available for the NHSmail encryption service.
  • You should only email sensitive information as part of an approved clinical workflow in line with your organisation’s standard working practices and information governance policies.

Your Local Administrators (LAs) and NHSmail support team

Local Administrators are responsible for administering NHSmail within your organisation. They are your point of contact for help with your account and providing support if you have any issues.

If you are unsure who your Local Administrators are, guidance is available on the NHSmail support pages to help you to contact the right person.

Users registered via the National Administration Service (NAS)

If you are a community pharmacist, dispensing appliance contractor, dentist, social care worker, care home, optician, independent midwife or locum GP and have registered for NHSmail via the National Administration Service specific support guides are available on the NHSmail support site.

You will also receive an additional welcome email which outlines how to get NHSmail support specific to your profession.

Getting help

Follow the steps below to get support with your NHSmail account:

1. Check the NHSmail Support Site for guidance and any known issues with the service

2. Contact your Local Administrator(s), or the National Administration Service if your organisation has opted for central management, for further support or help unlocking your account, setting up shared mailboxes or help moving your account if you are changing organisation

3. If you’re unable to resolve your issue by using the NHSmail Support Site or via your Local Administrator(s), contact the NHSmail Helpdesk on 0333 200 1133 or email helpdesk@nhs.net

Learning more

Training and guidance materials

You can access a vast library of training and guidance materials using the NHSmail Support Site at https://support.nhs.net/knowledge-base/.

Useful links

GDPR policies and guidance: NHSmail is committed to upholding GDPR regulations across the service.

Service Status: If you are experiencing issues with NHSmail, always check the Service Status page for up-to-date information on any known issues.

Outlook Web App Learning Series: Learn how to use your mailbox, calendars, people (contacts), tasks and reminders.

Portal Learning Guides: Learn how to use the user and administrator tools.

Communications: Access all the latest communications issued to users of NHSmail.

Policy and Guidance: Access all the policies and guidance on using NHSmail safely, securely, and effectively.