NHS Email for Locum GPs: Keeping Your nhs.net Account

The short answer

1. Before your last day in training, ask your current local administrator to mark your NHS email account as a leaver, and tell them you are becoming a GP locum.
2. Within 30 days, email [email protected] from your nhs.net address, asking to be added as a joiner to the GP locum organisation, with a Microsoft 365 licence.
3. Sign in at least every 30 days from then on.

NHSmail has been renamed NHS.net Connect. Your address still ends @nhs.net and does not change.

Why your account is at risk when training ends

Every NHS.net Connect account belongs to an organisation. As a registrar yours belongs to your training organisation or your training practice, and its local administrator manages it.

When you leave, that organisation marks you as a leaver. A leaver's account is kept for 30 days, and after that it can be deleted, unless another organisation has taken it on as a joiner in the meantime.

A self-employed locum has no employer to take it on, which is what the national GP locum organisation is for. Joined to it, your account stays yours whichever practices you work at, rather than moving every time your work does.

Moving your account to the GP locum organisation

Step 1: be marked as a leaver

Ask your current local administrator, usually the practice manager at your training practice or the trust's IT team, to mark your account as a leaver. Tell them you are becoming a GP locum, and do it before your last day, while you can still reach them easily. The 30 days start from here.

Step 2: ask to join the GP locum organisation

Email [email protected] from your nhs.net address. You can copy this and fill in the brackets:

Subject: Join the GP locum organisation: [your name], GMC [number]

Hello,

I have finished GP training and am now working as a self-employed GP locum in England. [Training organisation or practice] has marked my NHS.net Connect account as a leaver. Please add it as a joiner to the GP locum organisation, with a Microsoft 365 licence.

Full name: [name]
GMC number: [number]
NHS.net address: [address]@nhs.net
Mobile number linked to the account: [+44…]

Thank you,
[name]

Step 3: check it worked

Keep signing in while you wait. If the move has not come through after a few working days, and while you are still well inside the 30 days, call the helpdesk on 0333 200 1133. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Microsoft 365, Teams and Office

Once a locum registers with the NHS.net Connect helpdesk, a Microsoft 365 licence is associated with their nhs.net account, so you can sign in to Office and Teams on the practice computers you are booked on with your nhs.net details. Ask for it in the same email as the move, so it is in place before your first sessions rather than sorted out at a practice's front desk.

If you work through an agency, the agency may arrange this with the helpdesk for you. Check with them first.

If you have no NHS email

If you have never had an nhs.net account, or yours has already been deleted, register as a new GP locum. Email [email protected] from the email address registered on the National Performers List, with:

• your full name
• your GMC number
• a UK mobile number beginning +44

Your new account details arrive within five working days.

Keeping it active

Sign in at least every 30 days. An account that has not been signed in to for 30 days becomes inactive, and an inactive account can be deleted after a further 30. Weeks off between locum blocks are exactly when this happens, so a calendar reminder is worth setting.

Keep the mobile number linked to the account up to date. It is how you reset your password and how the helpdesk checks it is you.

If you are salaried as well

If you take a salaried post alongside your locum work, that practice can take your account on as a joiner instead, and you do not need the GP locum organisation. If you leave the salaried post later, the same rule applies again: be marked as a leaver, then join the GP locum organisation within 30 days.

Outside England

NHS.net Connect's GP locum registration is for GPs working in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own NHS email arrangements, so ask your health board or deanery how to keep your account when training ends.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep my NHS email address when I become a locum GP?

Yes. Ask your training organisation or practice to mark your account as a leaver, then within 30 days email [email protected] from that address asking to be added as a joiner to the GP locum organisation. The address stays the same.

What is NHS.net Connect?

It is the new name for NHSmail, the secure email and collaboration service for health and social care in England. Addresses still end @nhs.net, and existing accounts carry on as before.

How long do I have to move my NHS email account?

30 days. Once your old organisation marks you as a leaver, the account can be deleted after 30 days unless another organisation, such as the GP locum organisation, has added you as a joiner.

Do locum GPs get Microsoft Teams and Office on their nhs.net account?

A Microsoft 365 licence is associated with the account when a locum registers with the NHS.net Connect helpdesk. Ask for it in the same email as the move, so it is in place before you work at practices.

Is [email protected] still the right address?

No. Older articles give [email protected] for the GP locum team, but NHS.net Connect's current guidance, reviewed July 2026, sends GP locum requests to [email protected].

How do I get an NHS email if I have never had one?

Email [email protected] from the email address registered on the National Performers List, with your full name, GMC number and a UK mobile number beginning +44. The account details arrive within five working days.

Sources

Checked 30 September 2026. Where a primary source disagrees with anything here, the primary source wins.

• Register as an independent professional with NHS.net Connect, NHS.net Connect, reviewed 17 July 2026: registering as a GP locum, the details to send and the helpdesk
• NHS.net Connect registration FAQs, NHS.net Connect, reviewed 17 July 2026: leavers, joiners and the 30-day window, and the 30-day sign-in rule
• Office 365 licences for locums, West and North London ICB: the Microsoft 365 licence that comes with a locum account, and agencies arranging it
• NHSmail for locum GPs, BMA, June 2024: keeping an existing account when you become a locum

The rest of the move from training to locum work is in getting started as a locum GP.

A note on advice

This guide is general information for GPs in England. NHS.net Connect's contact details and processes change: if anything here does not match what the helpdesk tells you, the helpdesk is right.