One that looks like a scam but isn't.

I had one of those last week and I assumed it was a scam so got rid of it quick, I haven’t had another so now I’m left wondering was it important.

This happened to me. I miss an important hospital appointment. I have recently requested paper notifications in future. You can do this on the website, that sends out NHS notifications.

Apparently this is all part of the Patient Engagement Portal or PEP, which launched a month ago. This is all news to me, and evidently to a lot of other people also.

Yes, I've had these plus extra ones reminding me again nearer the appointment. Identical wording was sent by email at the same time. I have opted to still have paper notifications too as my experience of anything to do with the NHS is that you can't rely on them!

My husband had an email asking for bank details to give compensation over a scan appointment which had to be moved to another hospital. Obviously a scam... But doing some digging around and phone calls it was in fact genuine. Seems the NHS outsource some procedures to private companies, he was unaware it was one of those. He didn't bother with pursuing it, petrol cost would be the same as the original hospital venue. But generally good to be wary of such messages.

Our post is so appalling that I rely on texts and emails for my frequent hospital appointments. It's not new though as I've had them sent out for at least the last 18 months.
I also appreciate the reminders sent out by physio, podiatry, dentist etc.

I get an alert on the NHS App if there’s a communication for me.

Thoro - Getting text messages isn't new, but previously they have been clearly identified as being from the NHS. In this case it is a number not labelled as NHS or anything and this, combined with an invitation to click a link was what made me so wary. Now I know what the number is I will add it to my contacts as PEP, and then I will know it is legit next time.