What is a shared mailbox 

A shared mailbox is, as the name suggests, one which does not belong to a single user, but is instead accessed by specific user accounts that have a membership.  

All members can both see all emails that are received by the shared mailbox and also send emails on behalf of the mailbox. 

For organisations managed by the National Administration Service (NAS), all shared mailboxes are generically named to reflect a site/store, and usually a single shared mailbox is provided per site. 

It is also the main route to contact the helpdesk to request any actions required at a site level to administer NHS.net accounts, such as creating new accounts, password resets, restorations, etc. 

Membership 

Shared mailboxes are accessed and administered based on a user’s membership, of which there are two kinds:

Member – has access to the shared mailbox to send and receive emails. 

Owner – In addition to the above, owners can manage the membership of the account; adding and removing users, etc. 

For more information on membership/permissions please consult Setting shared mailbox permissions – NHSmail Support 

Benefits of a shared mailbox and multiple members 

Visibility – Having more than one person with access to the shared mailbox means more people who can respond to emails at any given time, especially in instances where there are different shift patterns, or if a colleague is on leave. This ensures email chains don’t rely on a single individual, as well as those that need a quick turnaround being dealt with in good time. 

This enhanced visibility also means if you are off for a period of time, you can catch up on all the emails going to and from the mailbox, and make sure you are up to speed. 

Auditing – unlike the (wrong) sharing of a single user account, any issues relating to misuse, reference, and auditing in general, can be carried out much more effectively on a shared mailbox. If a forensic request is ever needed, exact logs of who sent which email, and when, can be retrieved by the helpdesk. 

Continuity – As care providers often have a high turnaround of staff joining and leaving, using a shared mailbox ensures external stakeholders, such as GP practices, hospitals, etc, have an unchanging point of contact for your organisation. 

Administrative ease – An email from the shared mailbox, to helpdesk@nhs.net is the most straightforward way for nearly all administrative requests to be processed, and so having access to and understanding how to regularly use the shared mailbox means less delay in getting things done when required. 

If a single member leaves, and does not arrange for a colleague to be added in their place, then this can result in: 

• Important emails being missed 

• The new manager not being aware of the shared mailbox, resulting in confusion when trying to then register 

• Have to go through various authentication methods and request