"186m needless emails": NHS-wide test message and replies-to-all crash system

Sending an email to everyone in the company is usually a guaranteed way of making yourself unpopular, but the potential for annoyance is even greater if you work in the NHS, employer of 1.2 million people.

On Monday, NHS employees complained on Twitter about a “test email” sent by an IT contractor at Croydon NHS to everyone in the organisation, as well as replies-to-all, leading to claims the entire email system has crashed.

One NHS statistician estimated that at least 186m emails, including replies-to-all asking to be taken off the distribution list, had been sent, clogging up people’s inboxes.

Gavin (@68_gavin)

Another waste of a working day due to some pillick in #nhsmail sending email to entire directory, unable to connect and do my job #epicfail

November 14, 2016

James Andrews (@aptaim)

Hmmmm… wonder if this is why I can’t log in to #NHSmail at the moment ?! https://t.co/wBvuREsB6X

November 14, 2016

Project iHypE (@PIhype)

If you’re trying to get in touch with us today, please be patient, it seems #NHSmail has gone down for the time being. We’ll reply ASAP. A

November 14, 2016

Colin McDonnell (@Malignanthero)

Slow handclap for the individual that sent a test email to the entire NHSMail user base, and bravo to those that “replied to all”… pic.twitter.com/zkg5uG7t2M

November 14, 2016

Graham Hyde (@GrahamHyde)

#nhsmail 1.2 million people have received approx 151 emails in error this morning. That’s 186 million needless emails so far today.

November 14, 2016

A message to NHS mail users described the global email as a “high severity service incident”. It said: “An issue with a distribution list has meant that several test emails have been widely received by users. This has been exacerbated by recipients replying in response and increasing the volume of emails associated with the list.

“The impact of this issue has meant that some users are unable to access OWA [Outlook web access] due to the volume of emails being circulated. The distribution list has been removed and associated emails are being traced and cleared. In the meantime, users will experience slow performance with OWA and email delivery delays from internal and external sources to nhs.net addresses.”

Spare a thought for the NHSmail helpdesk, to which complaints have trebled since the email system was introduced in May.

NHSmail, a secure email service, is approved by the Department of Health for sharing patient identifiable/sensitive information.

"186m needless emails": NHS-wide test message and replies-to-all crash system

DfE emails show officials wanted to silence mental health tsar

Department for Education (DfE) officials appear to have been working to sack Natasha Devon, the government’s schools’ mental health champion, over her criticism of government policies even as they publicly denied doing so, according to internal emails obtained by Devon.

Devon, who was dropped from her role after she repeatedly argued that the government’s own education policies were contributing to poor mental health among young people, said the DfE emails confirmed her fears that the department had been trying to silence her.

In March, two months before her role was axed, one DfE official wrote that although they wanted to avoid the appearance that the department was dropping her because of her criticism, “it cannot be feasible that she continues”.

In another email a month later, an official writes: “Every day is another day she could be saying something damaging – and if that happens we will kick ourselves for not acting sooner.” But after the Guardian broke the news that Devon would be axed, she received a text that read: “What the Guardian have printed is ludicrous – We want to work with you more, not less!”

After reading the emails, Devon said they showed that the government’s policies on children’s mental health was little more than “a PR exercise” and confirmed her fears at the time that the department had been trying to silence her.

She said the emails revealed a government more worried about her comments on Twitter than the crisis in mental health among young people. “I can’t believe the ineptitude,” she said. “It’s like a script from [the BBC political satire] The Thick of It.”

Devon, who was appointed with some fanfare by the government in August 2015 to raise awareness of and reduce the stigma surrounding young people’s mental health, put in a subject access request to see government emails concerning her role after her dismissal in May.

At one point one official exclaims: “I know I keep saying this but please can everyone monitor her Twitter?”

Elsewhere the tone changes. After the news broke that her role was being cut, one DfE email read: “I think we now need to take ND down a peg or two.” A couple of days later, another said: “She is having her fifteen minutes and hopefully she is nearly at the end.”

Devon, who has almost a decade of experience of working in schools as the founder of the Self-Esteem Team and Body Gossip which deliver mental health education to young people, said her experience of working with government had “played havoc” with her own mental health.

When she was appointed she was told it was an important role – though unpaid to ensure impartiality – and would give her an opportunity to influence policy. In the end, it was “window dressing”, to help the government get coverage on GMTV and in other lifestyle media, she said.

Though Devon was hired because of her ability to talk to young people, department officials objected to her choice of language on social media.

When she uses the word “dickwad” in response to a story about a young woman being bullied for speaking out about sexism, one DfE email reads: “It is obviously totally unacceptable for a government-endorsed champion to swear and use offensive terms as she does … I have just called Natasha and she was surprisingly unapologetic.”Asked on Friday to respond to the internal emails and Devon’s criticism of the government’s policies on young people’s mental health, a DfE spokesperson said: “Natasha did a great job of helping us to raise the profile of young people’s mental health during her appointment.

“Since that time, the independent NHS taskforce report has been published which recommended that a cross-government mental health champion be created – for this reason we had to reconsider the department’s own role.”

Devon has now compiled a comprehensive report on children’s and young people’s mental health based on what she uncovered during her nine-month tenure as government mental health champion and her own work in schools.

She said of the government’s approach to young people’s mental health: “They talk a good game but they don’t get it. There was no real understanding of the severity of the situation. They would say the words, but I did not feel there was any kind of urgency.”

DfE emails show officials wanted to silence mental health tsar

How To Clear Out Your Inbox Faster: Categorize Your Emails

Right here are a handful of ways to categorize and tackle your overflowing inbox.

Sort of E mail: Long, good quality, and thoughtfully written
Problem: Not ample quick time to process and meaningfully reply
How to Reply: Reply immediately expressing your thanks and intention to slowly place all the info to use. Comply with up with an update as you can or in individual. By sending the thank you immediately, you in no way search negative for taking too long to get back to the sender.

Sort of Electronic mail: Tens of random, not overly essential notes or asks
Issue: Time consuming and not urgent
How to Response: Really don’t let these emails stew. These are the emails where a simpler reply than you think is needed, and will be ample. Replies to these sorts of emails may possibly be greater if you hyperlinked anything or if you could discover the correct person’s title that you are pondering of, but shipping the reply even if it’s not best, is greater than no reply. Try out to do a speedy-fire session and answer a ton of these emails following lunch or on Saturday mornings.

Type of E-mail: Miscellaneous emails from strangers, or emails you’d rather not have to reply
Dilemma: You really don’t have time to help or meaningfully reply or, you have the time, but investing that time elsewhere is far more meaningful for you
How to Answer: Rather than ignore their email, get 1 minute to respectfully decline and say you cannot do what they are asking. If what they are asking would be nicely obtained by somebody else, mention that.

Common Guidelines of E-mail:
Acknowledge. If some thing is sent to you and you require time to execute, aren’t confident about your schedule nevertheless, or merely really don’t have the time to do some thing, just allow the particular person know this. It is greater carry out by you for the sender, otherwise they are in the dark questioning why you haven’t replied.
Do One thing. For non-priority, not core to your work emails, just get some thing back to the sender. They’ll enjoy it, and you will not feel overwhelmed with so numerous emails sitting that you know you can do anything about. Just do some thing simple sufficient to get the electronic mail out of your inbox.
Say No. You decide on what will get your time, and your inbox should not be a area the place men and women get to get your time from you. Opt in to what tends to make sense and say sorry to these that aren’t the ideal use of your time, or communicate that you do not have capability.
five-minute rule, by Adam Grant. If it will take you five minutes or less, help the particular person.

How To Clear Out Your Inbox Faster: Categorize Your Emails