How to set up NHS Notify MESH

Your organisation or service must have started onboarding with NHS Notify.

You also need to have integrated with MESH using either:

• MESH API
• MESH Client
• MESH User Interface (UI)

You'll need to create two new MESH mailboxes for:

• integration testing (path to live)
• production (live)

To apply for a new MESH mailbox, complete the MESH mailbox application form.

In the 'Your data usage' section of the form, include 'NHS Notify Request' as the Workflow Group. For the next question asking what type of data you will be sending, include 'Sending requests to NHS Notify'.

Once your MESH mailboxes are set up, you can create reusable message templates with NHS Notify or enable your users to write and send messages in your own software.

Creating reusable message templates with NHS Notify

Templates let you send the same thing to lots of people, as often as you need to, without writing a new message each time.

Learn how to create:

• NHS App message templates (opens in a new tab)
• email templates (opens in a new tab)
• text message templates (opens in a new tab)
• letter templates (opens in a new tab)
   

Enabling users to write and send messages from your own software

NHS Notify can deliver NHS App messages, emails and text messages that your users write using your software's free-text inputs.

You'll need to configure your free-text inputs to populate one of our personalisation fields. Each personalisation field is specific to a message channel and will contain the entire message content that your user will enter in your software.

Use one of the following personalisation fields in your request.

You can use Markdown to add any formatting that your users apply to NHS App messages and emails they write in your software.

For NHS App messages, follow the Markdown guidance in the 'contentString' section of the schema (opens in a new tab).

For emails, follow the Markdown guidance for:

• links and URLs (opens in a new tab) 
• bullet points, headings, horizontal lines, inset text and numbered steps (opens in a new tab) 

Your users will not be able to use personalisation offered by NHS Notify (opens in a new tab) in messages they write from your software.

To decide how your messages will be sent to your recipients, you'll need to create a routing plan.

Learn more about routing plans (opens in a new tab).

If you're sending messages that your users will write in your software's free-text inputs, use one of the following routing plan IDs in your request. The routing plan ID should match the message channel your user will send with.