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Changes to NHS Care Identity Service (CIS) and the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS)

e-RS uses the NHS Care Identity Service (CIS) to authenticate user roles to log onto the service. As part of the wider plans to phase out CIS1 and replace with CIS2, e-RS professional users will need to change the browser address (URL) they use to access e-RS.

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Update June 2025

Further to the information described below, a change relating to the phasing out of CIS1 access to e-RS is planned as part of release 15.6 on Friday 16 August 2025 (subject to final testing). After this release any user who continues to access e-RS via the old URL (see below) will be automatically redirected to the new URL – they will no longer be presented with the warning message.

In a very small number of circumstances users may still see the below warning message. Please contact the e-RS team via [email protected] for more information if this is affecting you. 

Further to the changes made in April 2024, the option to continue to access e-RS using the HSCN URL for e-RS will be removed in March 2025.  

Users who having been using the HSCN URL must immediately update and replace this with the new URL in favourites/shortcuts in line with the guidance on this page. 

If this action is not undertaken users will not be able to access e-RS. 

Users who do not update to the new URL will be presented with the following warning message when attempting to log into e-RS, redirecting them to the correct URL: 

Image of the warning message when attempting to access e-RS using CIS1

Changes on how to log into the NHS e-Referral Service

e-RS professional users need to change the browser address (URL) they use to access e-RS.

The URL has changed from:

https://nww.ebs.ncrs.nhs.uk  (this address uses CIS1, accessed via HSCN)

to:

https://ers.nhs.uk (this address uses CIS2, accessed via the internet)

Steps to complete the change

Please review the below steps and consult with ICT, network managers and communications colleagues as required. The changes required are:

Update website URL to access e-RS

All professional e-RS users need to change any links they use to access e-RS to https://ers.nhs.uk, as above. You may be accessing e-RS via a link saved in their browser favourites, a desktop shortcut or via a link from your intranet or other systems – all of these need to be changed. We recommend you consult with your IT colleagues as you will require access to the internet to use the new e-RS URL. IT colleagues may also be able to make changes to your desktop shortcuts centrally, rather than you having to change it yourself.

ICT or network managers may have to review network restrictions

Some networks within Trusts are restrictive to certain websites. In most cases the following URLs won't be blocked, but in a few exceptions local network managers may need to allow access to these sites. All the below URLs are available via the internet and an HSCN connection is not required.

  1. https://ers.nhs.uk
  2. https://nhs-ers-eu-west-2-production-attachments-staging.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/
  3. https://nhs-ers-eu-west-2-production-attachments-archive.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/
  4. https://nhs-ers-eu-west-2-production-attachments.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/

URLs 2, 3 and 4 above have been included for completeness and have previously been communicated out to Trusts to ensure they’re available. They can also be tested here https://ers.nhs.uk/accesscheck and if 3 green ticks are displayed then all 4 URLs have been correctly configured.

In the case of some homeworkers/remote users using a VPN, some VPN solutions only provide an IP allowlist. These are dynamically allocated IPs and as such we can't provide a list of IPs. If a split tunnel VPN is used this traffic can be routed over the internet rather than through the VPN to overcome this.

Action for Primary Care only

Whilst GPs and practice staff access e-RS directly from within their GP clinical system (for example, EMIS, TPP, and so on), some GP practice staff may access e-RS using a browser or desktop shortcut to manage their e-RS worklists, for example. Primary care IT teams will need to follow steps above to update these primary care users to use the new e-RS URL. The NHS e-RS team are working with the GP clinical system suppliers to ensure the e-RS application is opened using the correct URL when accessed from within the clinical system.

Changes in April 2024

In April 2024 changes were made to how users authenticate with the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS). This means that when users continued to access e-RS via the legacy URL a new page was presented requiring the user to access e-RS via the new URL https://ers.nhs.uk.  This page was displayed each time a user continues to access the legacy URL, including when the e-RS session times out. 

Image when using legacy URL to access e-RS

Further information

This page will be updated as further information is available.

Read CIS changes for guidance to CIS1 deprecation.

Please contact us via [email protected] if you have any questions regarding the above.

Last edited: 17 June 2025 2:51 pm