e-Referral Service - FHIR API (HSCN)

Use this API to create paperless referrals from primary to secondary care.

As a primary care referrer, you can:

• create a new e-referral
• search for relevant patient services to create a shortlist
• access existing e-referrals
• create a triage request for the Referral Assessment Service (RAS)
• upload and manage a patient letter or attachments, linking them to a referral
• retrieve appointment slots and book appointments
• defer a booking to a provider if an appointment slot is unavailable

As a secondary care provider, you can:

• access referrals as a worklist
• retrieve non-clinical information (meta-data) about the referral
• retrieve attachments which are linked to a referral or triage (RAS) request
• retrieve clinical information which has been provided by a referrer
• accept or reject a referral request
• retrieve Advice & Guidance (A&G) conversations and send responses
• convert Advice & Guidance (A&G) conversations into a referral

You cannot use this API to:

• get patient details – instead, use the Personal Demographic Service (PDS)

You can access the following data:

• referral attachments
• referral letters
• appointment slots
• worklists for referral requests
• worklists for triage (RAS) requests
• worklists for Advice and Guidance (A&G) requests
• conversation histories for Advice and Guidance (A&G) requests

This API is only available over HSCN, and can only be used with CIS, not CIS2.

A healthcare worker must be present and authenticated with an NHS smartcard or a modern alternative to use this API.

This integration is in production but deprecated, meaning:

• new integrations are not allowed
• we will not make any updates to it
• it is still available for use
• service levels still apply

This API is a gold service, meaning it is operational and supported 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

For more details, see service levels.

You must have a Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) connection to use this API.

For more details, see Network access for APIs.

This API is user-restricted, meaning the end user must present, and must be a healthcare worker strongly authenticated with a smartcard using CIS.

This API is not compatible with CIS2.

For further details, see the e-Referral Service API Hub.