Publish date: 9 July 2021

The Care Identity Service (CIS), which is the national system for authenticating, registering and issuing NHS Smartcards, will be moving to an online ‘cloud-based’ environment to improve system performance and user experience. 

This upgrade was previously scheduled to take place in May but due to issues with a small number of systems was postponed. NHS Digital has advised that the upgrade will now take place from 6.30pm on Friday 9 July 2021 through to the evening of Monday 12 July 2021. 

During this timeframe, smartcard administration services will be unavailable, such as certificate renewals, passcode changes and unlocking services. Smartcard use for authentication and system access will not be affected. It is expected that the system will be fully operational for all services on Tuesday 13 July 2021.

Read more about how this might impact you and what you need to do to prepare…