diff --git a/app/celery/scheduled_tasks.py b/app/celery/scheduled_tasks.py
index c960c3b20..c58ecc557 100644
--- a/app/celery/scheduled_tasks.py
+++ b/app/celery/scheduled_tasks.py
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ from app.aws import s3
 from app import notify_celery
 from app.dao.invited_user_dao import delete_invitations_created_more_than_two_days_ago
 from app.dao.jobs_dao import dao_get_scheduled_jobs, dao_update_job, dao_get_jobs_older_than
-from app.dao.notifications_dao import delete_notifications_created_more_than_a_week_ago, get_notifications, \
-    update_notification_status_by_id
+from app.dao.notifications_dao import (delete_notifications_created_more_than_a_week_ago,
+                                       dao_timeout_notifications)
 from app.dao.users_dao import delete_codes_older_created_more_than_a_day_ago
 from app.statsd_decorators import statsd
 from app.models import JOB_STATUS_PENDING
@@ -111,21 +111,13 @@ def delete_invitations():
 @notify_celery.task(name='timeout-sending-notifications')
 @statsd(namespace="tasks")
 def timeout_notifications():
-    # TODO: optimize the query by adding the date where clause to this query.
-    notifications = get_notifications(filter_dict={'status': 'sending'})
-    now = datetime.utcnow()
-    for noti in notifications:
-        try:
-            if (now - noti.created_at) > timedelta(
-                    seconds=current_app.config.get('SENDING_NOTIFICATIONS_TIMEOUT_PERIOD')
-            ):
-                # TODO: think about making this a bulk update rather than one at a time.
-                updated = update_notification_status_by_id(noti.id, 'temporary-failure')
-                if updated:
-                    current_app.logger.info(
-                        "Timeout period reached for notification ({}), status has been updated.".format(noti.id))
-        except Exception as e:
-            current_app.logger.exception(e)
-            current_app.logger.error(
-                "Exception raised trying to timeout notification ({}) skipping notification update.".format(noti.id)
-            )
+    try:
+        updated = dao_timeout_notifications(current_app.config.get('SENDING_NOTIFICATIONS_TIMEOUT_PERIOD'))
+        if updated:
+            current_app.logger.info(
+                "Timeout period reached for {} notifications, status has been updated.".format(updated))
+    except Exception as e:
+        current_app.logger.exception(e)
+        current_app.logger.error(
+            "Exception raised trying to timeout notification skipping notification update."
+        )
diff --git a/app/dao/notifications_dao.py b/app/dao/notifications_dao.py
index aaab8f5e2..80cba3eb9 100644
--- a/app/dao/notifications_dao.py
+++ b/app/dao/notifications_dao.py
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ from app.models import (
     Notification,
     NotificationHistory,
     NotificationStatistics,
-    Template)
+    Template,
+    NOTIFICATION_CREATED,
+    NOTIFICATION_SENDING,
+    NOTIFICATION_PENDING,
+    NOTIFICATION_TEMPORARY_FAILURE)
 
 from app.dao.dao_utils import transactional
 from app.statsd_decorators import statsd
@@ -286,3 +290,18 @@ def dao_delete_notifications_and_history_by_id(notification_id):
     db.session.query(NotificationHistory).filter(
         NotificationHistory.id == notification_id
     ).delete(synchronize_session='fetch')
+
+
+def dao_timeout_notifications(timeout_period_in_seconds):
+    # update all notifications that are older that the timeout_period_in_seconds
+    #  with a status of created|sending|pending
+    updated = db.session.query(Notification). \
+        filter(Notification.created_at < (datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(seconds=timeout_period_in_seconds))). \
+        filter(Notification.status.in_([NOTIFICATION_CREATED, NOTIFICATION_SENDING, NOTIFICATION_PENDING])). \
+        update({'status': NOTIFICATION_TEMPORARY_FAILURE}, synchronize_session=False)
+    db.session.query(NotificationHistory). \
+        filter(NotificationHistory.created_at < (datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(seconds=timeout_period_in_seconds))). \
+        filter(NotificationHistory.status.in_([NOTIFICATION_CREATED, NOTIFICATION_SENDING, NOTIFICATION_PENDING])). \
+        update({'status': NOTIFICATION_TEMPORARY_FAILURE}, synchronize_session=False)
+    db.session.commit()
+    return updated
diff --git a/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py b/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py
index 3ef686713..55029160f 100644
--- a/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py
+++ b/tests/app/dao/test_notification_dao.py
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ from app.dao.notifications_dao import (
     get_notifications_for_service,
     update_notification_status_by_id,
     update_notification_status_by_reference,
-    dao_delete_notifications_and_history_by_id
-)
+    dao_delete_notifications_and_history_by_id,
+    dao_timeout_notifications)
 
 from notifications_utils.template import get_sms_fragment_count
 
@@ -810,3 +810,45 @@ def _notification_json(sample_template, job_id=None, id=None, status=None):
     if status:
         data.update({'status': status})
     return data
+
+
+def test_dao_timeout_notifications(notify_db, notify_db_session,):
+    with freeze_time(datetime.utcnow() - timedelta(minutes=1)):
+        created = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session)
+        sending = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session, status='sending')
+        pending = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session, status='pending')
+        delivered = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session, status='delivered')
+
+    assert Notification.query.get(created.id).status == 'created'
+    assert Notification.query.get(sending.id).status == 'sending'
+    assert Notification.query.get(pending.id).status == 'pending'
+    assert Notification.query.get(delivered.id).status == 'delivered'
+    updated = dao_timeout_notifications(1)
+    assert Notification.query.get(created.id).status == 'temporary-failure'
+    assert Notification.query.get(sending.id).status == 'temporary-failure'
+    assert Notification.query.get(pending.id).status == 'temporary-failure'
+    assert Notification.query.get(delivered.id).status == 'delivered'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(created.id).status == 'temporary-failure'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(sending.id).status == 'temporary-failure'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(pending.id).status == 'temporary-failure'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(delivered.id).status == 'delivered'
+    assert updated == 3
+
+
+def test_dao_timeout_notifications_only_updates_for_older_notifications(notify_db, notify_db_session):
+    with freeze_time(datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(minutes=10)):
+        created = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session)
+        sending = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session, status='sending')
+        pending = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session, status='pending')
+        delivered = sample_notification(notify_db, notify_db_session, status='delivered')
+
+    assert Notification.query.get(created.id).status == 'created'
+    assert Notification.query.get(sending.id).status == 'sending'
+    assert Notification.query.get(pending.id).status == 'pending'
+    assert Notification.query.get(delivered.id).status == 'delivered'
+    updated = dao_timeout_notifications(1)
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(created.id).status == 'created'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(sending.id).status == 'sending'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(pending.id).status == 'pending'
+    assert NotificationHistory.query.get(delivered.id).status == 'delivered'
+    assert updated == 0