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GP2GP - HL7 V3 API
Transfer patients' electronic health records, securely and quickly, between their old and new practices when they change GPs.
Overview
Use this API to transfer patients' electronic health records between old and new practices when they change GPs.
You can:
- include large records and those with many attachments
- reduce paper printing when patients leave a practice
- integrate (file) the electronic health record for returning patients
- log issues easily with easy-to-understand and more informative error messages
- monitor in real time the processes to track issues and performance
For more details, see GP2GP.
Legal use
This API can only be used where there is a legal basis to do so. Make sure you have a valid use case before you go too far with your development.
You must do this before you can go live (see ‘Onboarding’ below).
Related APIs
The following APIs are related to this one:
- Personal Demographics Service - FHIR API - use this new API to search for patients, retrieve patients by NHS Number and update patients.
- Personal Demographics Service - HL7 V3 API - use this if you want to use functions that are not yet available on the FHIR API.
- Personal Demographics Service - SMSP API - use this if you want to get PDS data without an authenticated end user (no smartcard required). It is, however, read-only and searches are limited to a single result.
- Spine Directory Service - LDAP API - use this to access data in the Spine using Directory Service (SDS), our LDAP API, which provides details of organisations, people and systems registered with the Spine.
- NHAIS GP Links API - use this to manage GP registrations and other patient data in NHAIS.
- Organisation Data Service - FHIR/ORD API - use this to search a national repository of NHS Organisation Reference Data using a FHIR or an ORD interface.
- Messaging Exchange for Social care and Health (MESH) - use this component of the Spine to deliver messages and files to registered recipients, in this case, to send audit information.
API status
This API is stable.
Technology
This API is an HL7 V3 API.
For more details, see HL7 V3.
Network access
You can access this API via:
- the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)
- the internet - but note that devices using NHS smartcards do require HSCN access
For more details, see Network access for APIs.
Security and authorisation
Authentication
This API is user-restricted, meaning an end user must be present and authenticated to use it.
The end user must be:
- a healthcare professional
- strongly authenticated using an NHS smartcard
For more details see user-restricted APIs.
Authorisation
For some activities, the end user must be authorised to perform that activity.
The API itself does not perform any authorisation checks. Rather, the calling system is expected to perform them. The authorisation rules are specified in our national Role Based Access Control (RBAC) database.
For more details see our national Role Based Access Control (RBAC) database on the registration authorities and smartcards page.
Testing
You can test this API using our Path to Live environments.
Onboarding
You must get your software onboarded before it can go live.
As part of onboarding, this API uses the Common Assurance Process (CAP), which is tailored for each NHS service. For more details, contact us.
Interactions
For a full list of interactions for this API, see the GP2GP domain in the Spine Message Implementation Manual (MIM).
For details on the general structure of the interactions, see HL7 V3.
Additional guidance
For more details about requirements and specifications of the record transfer mechanism, see the GP2GP section in the GP IT Futures Capabilities and Standards guidance.