Free NHS data access in Nexus
Anyone with an NHS email address can use the Nexus benchmark dashboards for free: no card details and no trial clock. Create account, pick your organisation, then choose Free dashboards. We set up a Foundation organisation for your site so you can invite colleagues later and upgrade in place. This is not a taster of the paid product that expires: the free tier is permanent.
Free access covers the dashboards built on published NHS data; live clinical features (real-time recall, monitoring compliance, in-year QOF) are part of the optional paid platform. See What's free and what's paid?
Signing up
On the signed-out home page choose Create account (or go to /signup/nhs / /?register=1). You'll be asked for:
- Where do you work?: GP practice, PCN, ICB, or NHS England, then pick your organisation (practices can be searched by name, ODS code or postcode).
- If we find a live PCIT contract we offer Core first; decline that and choose Free dashboards.
- Full name, NHS email (
@nhs.netornhs.uk), role, and password (at least 8 characters). - Whether you are the organisation admin (you get access either way; naming an admin is optional). Ticking that box does not make you admin: only the practice manager or primary contact we already hold on the PCIT account becomes admin automatically.
We then email a confirmation link to that NHS address. You cannot sign in until you open it. That check is how we know the address is yours.
If the confirmation link says "access denied" or that it has expired, the link has already been used. NHS mail security sometimes visits links while scanning your inbox. Your address is confirmed anyway, so just sign in with the password you chose. See Sign-in problems.
What you get
- The Benchmarks overview: the headline published QOF figures for the practice, PCN or ICB you chose when you signed up (where we hold them), with a card for every benchmark dashboard you can open. It's under Benchmarks → Overview. It doesn't show the practice AI card or the Friends and Family prompt, and it has no links to Performance or Actions: those are part of the paid platform.
- Practice, PCN and ICB performance dashboards at your declared level, with a scope picker to view any practice, PCN or ICB and see how you compare
- The National performance dashboard: every ICB ranked, with the leading and lagging PCNs and practices across England
- The Funding & equity dashboard
- The Data sources reference page
Everything is public, aggregate data. No patient-identifiable information. A banner in the app reminds you which access you hold.
NHS England staff
Choose NHS England as your organisation type and you'll land on the National performance dashboard each time you sign in, rather than a single ICB. Nothing extra to request. The national view is included for every free account, whatever level you work at.
Upgrading later
If your practice later subscribes to the paid platform, your account can be attached to the organisation with access to its packages. See Joining your organisation's existing account.
Once your account is attached to a subscribing practice, it becomes a full organisation account: at your next sign-in you'll be asked to set up two-factor authentication (see Your first sign-in), and your home page changes from the free benchmarking dashboards to your practice's performance dashboards.
Already on the free dashboards?
Choosing Free dashboards when you create an account sets up a Foundation organisation for the site you named. If you signed up earlier and still only see the free dashboards, use Set up your organisation's account in the banner at the top. We email a confirmation link to your NHS address. Once you open it, the Primary Care IT team verifies your role and approves the organisation: nothing is charged, and there is no trial clock.
If a colleague is already the administrator, you join their organisation instead and they approve you. See Inviting team members.
Insight Credits for AI Insights are not included with a Foundation account: an administrator buys a pack when the organisation wants to use it.