NHSmail is a service provided by NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH). NHS CFH supports the NHS in providing better, safer care by delivering computer systems and services that improve how patient information is stored and accessed. NHSmail is the secure email and directory service for NHS staff in England and Scotland and is approved for exchanging patient data with NHSmail and Government Secure intranet (GSi) users.

NHSmail, based on Microsoft Exchange 2007, currently has over 350,000 users and is expected to grow to over 1m users. For mobile employees, NHSmail supports a range of smartphones including Windows Mobile devices, Apple iPhones and, increasingly, BlackBerry smartphones which are very popular due to the range of custom medical applications that are available.

AstraSync is a software application for BlackBerry smartphones that is installed quickly and easily from the internet. With AstraSync, NHSmail BlackBerry users can sychronise their email messages, folders, calendars and contacts with their Exchange account over-the-air. AstraSync supports Exchange ActiveSync security policies so that confidential patient data in email can be protected. AstraSync delivers the same Exchange ActiveSync-compatible functionality to BlackBerry smartphones that is built-in to the new Apple iPhone 3G.