Multicast Notification Service
Publish and receive events from a single centralised system. Information is shared in the form of event messages, following a publish and subscribe model.
About this service
The Multicast Notification Service (MNS) allows NHS England event producers to publish patient related events using ‘publish-subscribe’ messages. Publish-subscribe messages allow multiple interested parties (subscribers) to be notified of an event (from a publisher). For example, when a patient changes their NHS number.
Subscribers receive notification of the events via their chosen delivery method allowing them to retrieve up to date information from the event producer in real time.
Examples of events include:
-
a patient’s death
-
a validated GP registration request
You can view the full list of events in the What information is available section.
Publish-subscribe messages allow multiple interested parties (subscribers) to be notified of an event (from a publisher). For example, when a patient dies, this would be of interest to their GP.
Benefits
Communicating changes to subscribers using a targeted notification format has numerous benefits over larger scale reporting methods.
- Delivers a single event to multiple recipients (subscribers) at the same time
- MNS updates event subscribers in real time, putting less stress on subscriber systems as users do not have to continuously check for updates
- MNS can scale delivery to many subscribers without publisher intervention
- Subscribers are updated in real time on events they subscribe to
- MNS is the recommended mechanism for subscribers wanting to follow a publish and subscribe model
- MNS ensures all subscribers receive the same message, maintaining consistency across systems
- Event specific filtering ensures subscribers only receive events relevant to their use case
Who this service is for
MNS is for systems that need to share information with more than one other system - these are event publishers.
Event publishers are usually national services, such as the Personal Demographics Service.
What information is available
The following table summarises the supported event types:
| Event type | Product specification |
|---|---|
| Register with a GP event | Register with a GP surgery |
| Publish a death event | PDS notifications |
| Publish an NHS number change event | PDS notifications |
| Publish a change of GP | PDS notifications |
| Patient flags | Patient flags change event |
National usage policy
Event publishers
This service is recommended for all national services that need to publish notifications to multiple interested parties.
Event subscribers
This service is recommended for all health and care systems that would benefit from receiving the supported event types.
Examples of use
Examples of use include:
-
the Patient Demographic Service notifying interested parties that a patient's NHS number has changed. GP systems can use this notification to update their local copy of the patient's details so they have up-to-date information for contacting the patient
-
the Patient Demographic Service notifying interested parties of a patient's death. Subscribers can use the notification event to update their local systems
Status, current usage and service level
Contact us
| Enquiry | Point of contact |
|---|---|
| Live service incident |
National Service Desk Email: [email protected] |
| Information about personal data (a subject access request) | How to make a subject access request |
| Strategic direction of the service |
Shan Rahulan (service owner) Email: [email protected] |
| Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) |
Stephen Koch Email: [email protected] |
Last edited: 12 June 2025 4:07 pm