Personal Demographics Service - SMSP API

Historically, people used this API to access the Personal Demographics Service (PDS). PDS is the national electronic database of NHS patient details, such as name, address, date of birth, related people, registered GP and NHS number.

You could:

• verify a patient's NHS number
• retrieve a patient's details
• search for patient details

You could not use this API to:

• update patient details
• create a new record for a birth
• receive birth notifications 
• create a new record for a new patient
• register a new patient at a GP Practice

This API:

• did not require the end user to be strongly authenticated with a smartcard
• only returned a result from a search if there is a single, unique match - it did not return multiple matches

Spine Mini Service Provider (SMSP) options

There are also commercially available products which give easier access to PDS, known as Spine Mini Service Providers (SMSPs).

These and other conforming software products are listed in our Conformance Catalogue.

If you are interested in becoming a provider of one of these products, see Personal Demographics Service - SMSP API standards.

This API could 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.  To do this, make a PDS access request. 

You must do this before you can go live. 

The following APIs also give access to the Personal Demographics Service:

• Personal Demographics Service - FHIR API - use this newer 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, such as creating a new record for a birth, receiving birth notifications, or creating a record for a new patient (except when registering a new patient at a GP Practice). For birth notifications, another option is PDS Notifications FHIR API

The following APIs are also related to this API:

• Organisation Data Terminology API - use this to get full details for the organisations related to the patient, such as their registered GP or nominated pharmacy

As of 22 July 2026, this API is retired and no longer available for use.

For new integrations, use the Personal Demographics Service - FHIR API.

Note: This only affects you if you use our NHS Digital PDS SMSP API, not if you use a third party PDS SMSP provider.

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

For more details, see service levels.

This API was an HL7 V3 API. All interactions are synchronous.

For more details, see HL7 V3.

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

For more details, see Network access for APIs.

This API was application-restricted, meaning:

• the calling application is authenticated - we do care who it is
• the end user is not authenticated - we do not verify who it is or whether they are present

In particular, it used TLS-MA authentication.

In addition, we required calling applications to:

• authenticate end users locally with a minimum of user ID and password
• use role-based access control (RBAC) locally to control end user access to the patient data
• keep an audit trail locally of all accesses to patient data by end users

For more details, see Spine Mini Service Provider for Personal Demographics Service.

For details, see Spine Mini Service Provider for Personal Demographics Service.

This API is retired and no longer available for onboarding.

For details on how onboarding worked, see Spine Mini Service Provider for Personal Demographics Service.