Online and video consultation undertaken in general practice data collection

The Online Consultation / Video Consultation (OC/VC) extended data collection goal is to support understanding of demand and activity in general practice.

The capture of all OC/VC data in Primary Care will demonstrate the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan objectives and monitor elements of Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. Accurate and timely capture of this data supports GP practices and local commissioners to plan and provide implementation support, as well as make more informed procurement decisions. Moreover, nationally it will help with understanding usage and shaping future policy.

The collection replaces the previous manual daily submissions method.

The OC/VC data can be submitted in any of the following file formats:

• JSON
• XML
• CSV

Use the content in this release for OC/VC bulk submission via CSV files.

The submission of OC/VC data is to be made through the Message Exchange for Social Care and Health (MESH). Find out about the MESH types available. 

You will need a MESH mailbox account and this can be requested using the online form.

To authenticate your secure MESH mailbox, you will need to hold a certificate.

For additional technical documentation email: [email protected].

We have introduced a weekly participation process to the (OC/VC collection to ensure that we receive data only from practices that have agreed to share their OCVC data with us. 

The legal basis for this collection is:

254(1), (3) and (6), section 260, section 261(2)(e) and section 304(9), (10) and (12) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. 

For further information about this collection, email: [email protected].

To enable us to deal with your enquiry effectively please can you make sure you include the following information when you contact us:

• organisation name and ODS code
• description of the issue
• specify if the issue is about a test submission or a live submission 
• date and time of submission
• number of files submitted
• MESH mailbox ID
• how are you sending the data to us: MESH, API, MESH Client or MESH UI
• contact name
• contact email