Message

Dear All

To the many people that replied to me, thank you so much.

I've had lots of people saying that they use NHS net email to do this free and that it should not be blocked by trust IT departments.
Many people have also sent me the email that I was asking about with the list of resources which was posted by David Cleland back in September (for those of you who might be interested I've pasted it below).

Many thanks

Sandra

We don't provide this at present, but we have taken to sending mobile messages to those with 3rd level overdues (the ones that owe us money plus an admin fee), sent from within national NHS net - I can see that your email address is still a local one rather than a national one so I don't know if it would work for you. The way it works is that we log in to nhs.net email and then send an email to e.g. [log in to unmask]
You can send more than one message at a time if you have a list of mobile numbers, and you can copy and paste a list of mobile numbers from an Excel spreadsheet or similar.
I have tried getting emails to work through Olib (our library management system) by putting this in the email address bar but it doesn't work, to my disappointment...! I haven't tried it from anywhere else yet.
We have also tried doing a 'reply via' with our SMS texts from within NHS Net mail and it did seem to work - things came through as an attachment. So it's definitely something we're going to investigate further
You can or used to be able to send texts (and faxes) via nhs.net ie if you have an nhs.net email address, which you used to be able to self register for.
This is something we are hoping to look into. I have obtained a fee articles where it has been used in libraries, mainly in the US.
It possible to do this through Outlook.
You can send SMS (no reply texts) through NHSmail www.nhs.net.
There are some free SMS providers available online where you can send SMS from a PC. There are quite a few so a quick google search on free sms should provide some examples.
We have a contract with a company called IceTrak http://www.icetrak.co.uk/ which we have used for 7 years.
We use it to:
contact candidates to ask if interested in a job
(ie please call/check web re job opportunity ref 1245)
to confirm interview details
(ie confirmation interview at 12.30, 3 the avenue EC1 meet John Smith
to alert temporary workers to their pay
(ie net pay of £200.00 has been paid to your account today)
a lot of if it is also covered by other methods but it is very handy to have the info on your mobile
costs are very reasonable and it works with our [deleted] software.
Very easy to set up and also good for sending individual texts via email.
It so happens I am having treatment at [deleted] Hospital in London and all of my appointments are confirmed by text with full information of who, where, when. This is new and I was discussing it with them yesterday and saying how useful it was.

-----Original Message-----
From: Sandra Harrison (bwh)
Sent: 14 December 2010 11:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Text messages to library users

Dear All

I'm sorry for asking this, but I can't find this searching on the lis-medical website.
Sometime this year (I think it was this year) there was a string about websites/emails that you could use to send text messages to library users.
I found the emails from Scott in October about what types of messaging libraries use them for, but I'm sure there was something before that mentioning actual sites that you could use free of charge (assuming they are not blocked by IT).
I've already searched google and all the sites mentioned are blocked by our IT deparment and I was hoping to check what sites where mentioned in the emails.

If anyone has kept those emails (I stupidly did not) could you forward them to me or point me to them on the lis-medical website.

Many thanks
Sandra

Sandra Harrison, BA hons, ACLIP
Library Administrator
Library & Information Service
Education Resource Centre
Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust
Mindelsohn Way
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TG
0121 627 5846
Fax 0121 623 6922 (F.A.O. Sandra)
www.bwhct.nhs.uk/professionals/library-home
Please note that I do not work on Wednesdays, if you have an urgent enquiry on a Wednesday please phone the library and another member of library staff may be able to help you.

The BWH library provides you with access to approx 2,500 e-journals.
This includes specialist O&G, Midwifery, Paediatric, Neonatal, Pathology and Genetics titles
You can access these via the e-journals link from our website at http://www.bwhct.nhs.uk/professionals/library-home
You will need to log in with your Athens username and password to access all titles

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