When a failure is recorded
The timing of a failure depends on why it happened.
1. Immediate send failures (within seconds)
Some failures are identified straight away, as Anima attempts to send the message. Common causes include:
An invalid mobile number
An empty message
All SMS providers rejecting the send (e.g. Telnyx, Firetext, NHS Notify)
In these cases, the message status is set to Failed or Invalid number immediately.
2. Delivery failures (usually within a few minutes)
Sometimes a message is accepted by the carrier initially, but delivery fails afterwards. In this case, the status only updates once the carrier sends a delivery report back to Anima - which can take a few minutes, depending on the provider.
The general flow looks like this:
Message is sent → status shows as Pending
The provider reports a failure
The status updates to Failed in Anima
3. NHS Notify (NHS App) failures
NHS App messages can also fail to deliver. This is detected either via a callback from NHS Notify, or a timed check if delivery/read confirmation doesn't come through in time. In some cases, this can trigger an automatic SMS fallback before the message is marked as failed.
Where to check for failures
You'll need to check for failed SMS messages within Anima:
Where to look | What you'll see |
Contact patients → Messages | The status of each individual message, including Failed to deliver or Invalid number (this can be filtered) |
Contact patients → Batch details | The count of failed SMS messages within a given batch |