GP Connect Send Document - FHIR

Use this integration to send a PDF consultation summary to a registered GP practice - using GP Connect Messaging.

For example, use it to send a document containing a patient's consultation notes to their GP practice when a patient is seen:

• at another GP practice than their own
• by an out of hours service
• by a district nurse at home

Each message sent using this integration uses the GP Connect Messaging components, MESH, and ITK3, to deliver the message.

Each message sent is a FHIR Message, defined as a FHIR composition, constructed to meet the ITK3 standard with a specific payload structure.

For more details, see the GP Connect specifications for developers.

This integration can be used by developers of clinical systems that support clinicians delivering direct care.

Before you start development, read the Send Document Implementation Guide.  

Prerequisites

Technical

You must:

• have access to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) or the internet to send ITK3 standard messages over MESH
• have MESH API compliance or access to the MESH client
• have ITK3 compliance
• be Personal Demographics Service (PDS) compliant or capable of performing a PDS search via NHS Digital or a third-party provider

Information governance (IG)

You must:

• be compliant with the GP Connect Direct Care API Information Governance Model
• manage access to your system locally using local role-based access control (RBAC). This does not need to be compliant with the national RBAC model and GP Connect products do not require smartcards to control access, though they can be used if already implemented

• be using the GP Connect APIs for direct care purposes for NHS patients in England

Clinical safety

You must:

• have a clinical safety officer (CSO) who is responsible for DCB0129 and, if necessary, DCB0160 . For more on clinical risk management, visit Clinical risk management standards

If you are confident that you can meet the prerequisites, contact us to express your interest. See 'Onboarding' below.

The following APIs and API standards are also related to this integration:

• Personal Demographics Service - FHIR API  – use this API to look up the registered GP for the patient
• Message Exchange for Social Care and Health (MESH) API - transfer messages and large files securely across health and social care organisations

• Interoperability Toolkit 3 Messaging Distribution FHIR API standards - define a set of generic messaging components using FHIR STU3

This integration is in production.

It might not be fully supported by all providing systems. See GP Connect supplier progress for details of provider rollout.

This integration uses MESH which is a silver service, meaning it is operational 24 x 7 x 365 but only supported during business hours (8am to 6pm), Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays.

For more details, see service levels.

This integration sends HL7 FHIR STU3 message payloads over MESH as defined by ITK3 v2.10.0.

For more details, see FHIR.

You can access this integration via:

• the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)
• the internet

 For more details, see Network access for APIs.

This integration uses MESH which is an application-restricted API.

The integration does not perform any end user authentication or authorisation checks. Rather, the calling system is expected to perform them.

The following test environments are available:

• Opentest 

• the Path-to-Live integration environment 

To test sending a message, see Message sender testing.

If you meet the prerequisites and have a product that can integrate with GP Connect, you should express an interest with us by submitting a use case.

The main purpose of the use case is to help us understand how you plan to use GP Connect APIs and the business issue you are looking to address. You should email your use case to us at gpconnect@nhs.net.

Your use case should include the following information as a minimum:

• the business problem you are intending to solve using GP Connect
• how GP Connect will be used in practice to benefit patients and staff
• which of the GP Connect products you will use to benefit patients and staff
• any end user organisations you are currently working with
• who your clinical safety officer is and, where available, your clinical risk management process documentation

Once we receive your use case, we'll respond within 14 days.

For a full list of interactions for this integration, see the latest supported version.

For details on the general structure of the interactions, see FHIR.