Message, channel and supplier status
This page describes the statuses you’ll see when using NHS Notify API or NHS Notify MESH to find out what’s happened to your messages.
If you’re using NHS Notify API
Check the status of a single message or channel by using the get message status endpoint.
To check the status of multiple messages automatically, use message status callbacks.
If you’re using NHS Notify MESH
You’ll receive a daily report of messages and channels that have completed that day.
To get an overall status of a message you’ve sent use the message status.
To see the status of a specific channel in your routing plan, use the channel and supplier status.
Message status
If you’re sending messages using multiple channels, you’ll get an overall status across all the channels that were attempted.
Messages can have the following statuses:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| pending_enrichment | NHS Notify is waiting to check and improve the recipient’s contact details using the Personal Demographics Service (PDS). |
| enriched | NHS Notify has found the recipient’s contact details. |
| sending | The message is in the process of being sent. |
| delivered | The message has been successfully delivered. |
| failed | We have failed to deliver the message. |
Failed messages
Messages and channels that have not reached a recipient will have a ‘failed’ status with one of the following descriptions:
| Failed message status descriptions |
|---|
| Name response is invalid: contact detail is missing. |
| No reachable communication channels. |
| No valid request item plans were generated. |
| Patient has exit code. |
| Patient is formally dead. |
| Patient is informally dead. |
| Patient record invalidated. |
| Validation failed on re-enrichment: patient has exit code. |
| Validation failed on re-enrichment: patient is formally dead. |
| Validation failed on re-enrichment: patient is informally dead. |
| Validation failed on re-enrichment: patient record invalidated. |
| Flagged. |
Channel and supplier status
You can find out what’s happened to each channel in a routing plan with the channel and supplier status.
Channel status descriptions
Channel statuses tell you at a high level what’s happened to each channel in a routing plan. The channel status is also what’s used to trigger fallbacks in your routing plans.
For example, a ‘failed’ channel status for an NHS App message could trigger a fallback that sends an email.
Each channel can have the following statuses:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| created | The channel has been created. |
| skipped | The channel was skipped in the routing plan. |
| sending | The channel is currently being sent. |
| delivered | The channel has reached the recipient |
| failed | The channel did not reach the recipient |
Supplier status descriptions
If you need more detail about a specific channel, you can also use supplier statuses.
Supplier statuses can tell you why a channel has a certain channel status. For example, NHS App messages receive a channel status of ‘delivered’ when NHS Notify receives a supplier status of ‘read’.
Each channel has different supplier statuses that are only relevant to that channel.
Find out the supplier statuses you can get and how they map to the channel statuses of:
NHS App message supplier status descriptions
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| received | The supplier received the request to send an NHS App message. |
| delivered | The NHS App message was successfully delivered. |
| read | The recipient has opened the NHS App message. |
| notified | A push notification was sent and displayed on the recipient’s device. |
| notification attempted | A push notification has been sent to the recipient’s device but we cannot confirm if the notification was received or displayed. |
| unnotified | A push notification was not sent or displayed on the recipient’s device. |
| rejected | The supplier rejected the request to send the NHS App message. |
Email supplier status descriptions
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| delivered | The email was successfully delivered. |
| permanent_failure | The provider could not deliver the message because the email address was wrong. |
| temporary_failure | The provider could not deliver the message. This can happen when the recipient’s inbox is full or their anti-spam filter rejects your email. |
| technical_failure | Your message was not sent because there was a problem between NHS Notify and the provider. |
Text message supplier status descriptions
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| delivered | The text message was successfully delivered. |
| permanent_failure | The provider could not deliver the message. This can happen if the phone number was wrong or if the network operator rejects the message. |
| temporary_failure | The provider could not deliver the message. This can happen when the recipient’s phone is off, has no signal, or their text message inbox is full. |
| technical_failure | Your message was not sent because there was a problem between NHS Notify and the provider. You will not be charged for text messages that are affected by a technical failure. |
Letter supplier status descriptions
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| accepted | NHS Notify has sent the letter to the provider to be printed. |
| received | The provider has printed and dispatched the letter. |
| pending_virus_check | The provider has not yet completed a virus scan of the letter. |
| cancelled | Sending cancelled. The letter will not be printed or dispatched. |
| virus_scan_failed | The provider has found a potential virus in the precompiled letter file. |
| validation_failed | Content in the letter file is outside the printable area. |
| technical_failure | NHS Notify had an unexpected error while sending the letter to our printing provider. You will not be charged for letters that are affected by a technical failure. |
| permanent_failure | The provider cannot print the letter. Your letter will not be dispatched. |
