How should I configure my system for sending SMS?

Our system utilises numerous messages to communicate with patients. Some of these are automated if you opt into those parts of the system. Many of our messages can be quite long because we want to provide patients with high-quality information about the care we're offering.

This can cause issues with messages being split into multiple parts, making them more difficult for patients to read.

There are two solutions to consider for this:

1.  Increase the character limit on your messages

Before proceeding, please verify with your SMS provider (typically your ICB IT support) that an increased character limit is available. For more information, see the attachment from TPP below.

2.  Send SMS messages that are longer than the character limit as a URL

This will send patients a brief message with a link to access a URL where they can read the full message.

To enable either or both of these options...

1. Navigate to Organisation Preferences and this page:
2. To increase the character limit on your messages, change the number of characters from 306 to the limit you'd like to work to, highlighted yellow.
3. To send SMS messages that are longer than the character limit as a URL tick the box for this option, highlighted green.
4. Test your changes using a staff phone number added to a test patient, by sending a longer message to make sure it is configured properly and the end is not cut off. If all the message is not appearing, change the settings back.

Other configuration options to consider:

1) You can now configure how long links can be used for. The default is 7 days. We think 28 days is reasonable. Its reduces the likelihood of patients contacting practices because links have expired, but avoids a link being used inappropriately a long time after it was sent. The setting is in the same menu as the screenshot above:

2) Turn off the access code. We're not quite sure what benefit there is in sending an access code in the same message as the link. We've turned it off for our practices and that further saves on characters. You can do that here:

Just untick the option "Include an access code..."

Its also worth looking at how you can increase the use of email, which resolves many of these issues and doesn't cost the NHS anything to send. See the video at the end of this article for more information - How do I increase the use of Email and SMS?