Action should be taken when a member of staff is on long-term leave (e.g. maternity or sickness), this might include some or all of the following.

1. Add an automatic reply ("Out of Office")
2. Mark the mailbox as Disabled (to extend the normal automatic deletion from 30 days without use to 18 months)
3. Add delegates (colleagues that can access the mailbox)

All these actions remain the formal responsibility of the local IT service desk. Line managers can request the above actions in the ticket to that service.

Doing it yourself

If you a member of surgery staff with additional permissions in NHSmail, you may be able do this directly without raising a ticket with the IT service desk. Full support for NHSmail is available in their support centre.

1. Sign in to the NHSmail Portal
2. Navigate to Admin > User Management
3. Search/filter to the relevant User mailbox and click it
4. Use the relevant options:
   1. Set Out of Office - To add an automatic reply advising the user is away for some time and whether the sender should redirect future emails or confirm the mailbox is being monitored by colleagues
   2. Disable - The mailbox will not be automatically deleted after 30 day without use (now extended to 18 months before this occurs). The user will not be able to sign into their account while disabled.
   3. Delegate Mailbox - Add suitable colleagues to monitor the mailbox

If you have any difficulties with this, please discuss with the IT service desk who are your primary support for NHSmail.