NHS Credential Management - NHS e-Referral Service

NHS Credential Management is software which needs to be installed on a desktop to take advantage of enhanced functionality for Card Management Service (CMS) and other smartcard related actions to enable access to the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS).

The following errors maybe displayed when a configuration check report is run. Review the information below to understand what corrective action to take to resolve the errors.

If the error “NHS Credential Management cannot be found” is reported, this may be because the:

• NHS Credential Management has not been installed (which may be appropriate if an organisation has decided not to use it)
• software is not running

Note: NHS Credential Management does not automatically start after installation but will start on a subsequent user login or machine restart. If NHS Credential Management will not start, please refer to the NHS Credential Management Installation Guide (HSCN/N3 connection required to access this link). 

This message may also be seen if group policy has set the browser privacy and security settings to block third-party cookies. To enable use of NHS Credential Management, the group policy needs to be updated to allow all third-party cookies or to selectively allow them for [*.]localhost.

For further details, see the 'Configuration Section' of the NHS Credential Management 'Administrator's Guide' located on the NHS Credential Management Installation Guide webpage (HSCN/N3 connection required to access this link).

The error “NHS Credential Management is running on port 43485 but is not connected” indicates that NHS Credential Management is running correctly, but an error has occurred whilst attempting to communicate with the Identity Agent.

If this is not an expected scenario. You should contact the National Service Desk (details below) for assistance if it persists.

The error '“NHS Credential Management is running on port 55000 and is connected but cannot login to e-RS”' indicates that NHS Credential Management is running correctly, but an error has occurred whilst attempting to check whether the Identity Agent has already logged in the user.

This may occur if:

• the Identity Agent is not running
• the user did not in fact log in to the Identity Agent before starting the test
• the user logged out of the Identity Agent before completing the test
• the Identity Agent login was unsuccessful

For guidance on dealing with authentication issues with the Identity Agent please see the 'Troubleshooting' section in the Administration Guide included in the installation files (HSCN/N3 access required to access this link).

If the above reasons have been eliminated, then you can get further assistance by calling the National Service Desk on 0300 3035035 or raising a call using the National Service Desk tool.

The Windows Security dialog shown below may be displayed in the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) if NHS Credential Management is run on a Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 machine that has had its Internet Options modified from the default values.

If the security box appears, and you do not have access rights to amend the settings, please contact your local IT team who can use the information on this page to resolve the issue. 

To rectify this issue, modify the Local intranet settings in the machine's Internet Options as described in the Configuration section of the NHS Credential Management Administrator's Guide.

This can be found at NHS Digital Downloads – NHS Credential Management.