If you switched Nexus on from inside Medicus, this explains what happens next, how long it takes, and what you'll hear from us along the way. For the clicks inside Medicus itself — enabling the bulk extract and the app — see Steps to set up Medicus for Nexus.
The short version. Registering takes about five minutes. Getting your data across takes longer — usually a couple of weeks from registration to being fully live, sometimes more if we're busy. Your three-month free trial doesn't start until you're live, so none of it is spent waiting. We email you at every step; there is nothing for you to chase.
The registration wizard is the same one every practice uses (Signing your organisation up), with one extra question: your Medicus practice ID.
That is the six characters in the address bar of your own Medicus instance, right after medicus.health:
`` https://england.medicus.health/cd4c58/scheduling/homepage?tab=my-appointments ^^^^^^ ``
In that example the ID is cd4c58. You can paste the whole address into the box and we'll pick it out.
It isn't your ODS code. Your ODS code is the one that looks like A81001, and we ask for that separately when you find your surgery. If you put the ODS code in the Medicus box, the wizard will tell you.
Why we need it. It's how Nexus addresses your Medicus instance. Without it we can load your clinical data but can't see your patients' contact details — so recall invitations, questionnaires and text messages would have nowhere to go.
Medicus practices get a three-month free trial, and it works differently from the self-serve trial other practices choose:
Your trial is the platform with the practice modules switched on, so you're trying the real thing rather than a cut-down version:
A couple of things sit outside it. AI Insights is charged by usage rather than included in a package, so it's switched on separately if you want to try it. Anything still in development isn't part of a trial.
Nothing is taken away at the end without a conversation, and the free NHS data dashboards are permanently free whatever you decide.
Usually 1–2 working days. We confirm the practice and that the person registering is the right one to administer the account (normally the practice manager or a partner). You'll get an email to set your password — you can sign in straight away and look around, though your own dashboards will be empty until your data arrives.
Bringing a practice's full record history across is a big job, so we do a couple of practices at a time rather than everyone at once — otherwise we'd slow the service down for practices already using it.
We'll email you to say you're in the queue and how many practices are ahead of you.
You'll get an email when we start. The first load covers your full patient record history, so it usually takes a few days, and longer for a larger list.
Nothing changes in Medicus while this runs, and there's nothing for your team to do. You can carry on exactly as normal.
We'll email you again once it's all in and we're setting up your dashboards.
When your dashboards are populated we'll email to say so — and that's the day your three-month trial starts.
The usual first things to do are invite the rest of your team and take a look at your QOF dashboard.
Does any of this affect Medicus? No. Data flows one way, from Medicus into Nexus. Nothing Nexus does changes how Medicus behaves for your team.
Can we speed it up? Sometimes. If there's a reason your practice needs to go first — a contract deadline, an inspection — reply to any of the emails and tell us. We can move a practice up the queue, but the loading itself takes as long as it takes.
We've heard nothing for a while. Is something wrong? Probably not — the queue is the longest part and it is quiet by nature. But reply to any of our emails and we'll tell you exactly where you are.
What if we gave you the wrong Medicus ID? Reply to any of the emails and we'll correct it. It's better to tell us early: an incorrect ID means we can't see your patients' contact details, which isn't obvious until you try to send something.
What happens at the end of the three months? We'll be in touch before then. If you want to carry on we'll set billing up properly; if you don't, we turn it off and that's that. Nothing happens automatically and nothing charges without you agreeing to it.