diff --git a/lambdas/handlers/manage_nrl_pointer_handler.py b/lambdas/handlers/manage_nrl_pointer_handler.py
index 615359bb1..cc0c24e27 100644
--- a/lambdas/handlers/manage_nrl_pointer_handler.py
+++ b/lambdas/handlers/manage_nrl_pointer_handler.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def lambda_handler(event, context):
                 f"Processing SQS message for nhs number: {nrl_message.nhs_number}"
             )
             nrl_verified_message = nrl_message.model_dump(
-                by_alias=True, exclude_none=True, exclude_defaults=True
+                by_alias=True, exclude_none=True
             )
             match nrl_message.action:
                 case NrlActionTypes.CREATE:
diff --git a/lambdas/services/nrl_api_service.py b/lambdas/services/nrl_api_service.py
index 9676645e1..9e33d01bd 100644
--- a/lambdas/services/nrl_api_service.py
+++ b/lambdas/services/nrl_api_service.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def create_new_pointer(self, body, retry_on_expired: bool = True):
             response.raise_for_status()
             logger.info("Successfully created new pointer")
         except HTTPError as e:
-            logger.error(e.response)
+            logger.error(e.response.content)
             if e.response.status_code == 401 and retry_on_expired:
                 self.headers["Authorization"] = (
                     f"Bearer {self.auth_service.get_active_access_token()}"