Appendix 2 - The types of data that GP Connect shares
The tables below outline how each different type of GP Connect functionality uses data, and what data is shared.
Access Record: HTML data items
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Patient details | Patient demographic information, including: family name, given name, gender, date of birth and GP practice code; and the following as optional within some systems: address and postcode, contact (such as telephone no.), responsible GP code and name, and GP practice name and address. |
| Summary |
Summarised text for current allergies and adverse reactions, last 3 encounters, active problems and current medications. Note - encounters may include records such as letters, where the patient has not had an actual consultation with a healthcare professional. |
| Allergies and Adverse Reactions | Table of allergies and adverse reactions. |
| Administrative items | Table of coded record items which the provider has classified as non-clinical, such as activities of record administration and communications. |
| Clinical terms | Text for coded record items which the provider has classified as clinical, such as problems, diagnosis and procedures. |
| Encounters | A journal like view of interaction(s) between the patient and a healthcare professional. |
| Immunisations | A list of all recorded immunisations events. |
| Medication | Tables of medications prescribed, dispensed and administered. |
| Observations | Table of clinical items from the GP record that represent measurement data (blood pressure, temperature, heart rate for example) |
| Problems | Table of items marked as medical problems from the GP record. |
| Referrals | Table containing details of referrals to and from the GP practice. |
Detailed content of data items and context
Summary
The Access Record: HTML Summary view is a standard view in all GP Connect implementations. It is populated from information recorded within the patient record and contains:
- active problems and issues
- current medication issues
- current repeat medications
- current allergies and adverse reactions
- last three encounters
Consultation - encounters
(An encounter is an interaction between a patient and a health care professional that is recorded on the patient record)
Planned encounters - such as pre-arranged appointments with a GP
Unplanned encounters - such as at an out of hours clinic and those unrecorded through appointment module(s)
Direct encounters - such as a face-to-face session with a GP
Indirect encounters - such as a GP reviewing and updating a patient record on receipt of some test results
Attended appointments appear as an encounter and these may reference a document, diagnostic report (investigation), or other parts of the record, dependent on local data entry processes.
Problem
Any issue that is significant to a patient that impacts their health or wellbeing that has been recorded as a problem. It includes disease, surgery, and social issues such as bereavement or unemployment.
Medications current
Medication issues including repeat dispensing and medication history
A list of drugs or other forms of medicines that are currently being, or have recently been, used to treat or prevent disease for the patient.
Current repeat medication
A list of repeat drugs or other forms of medicines that are currently being used to treat or prevent disease for the patient. This may also include PRN occasional use medication.
Past medication
A history view of drugs or other forms of medicines that have been used to treat or prevent disease for the patient.
Allergies and adverse reactions
Allergies and adverse reactions – description and date only.
Referrals
Request for transfer of care or requests to provide assessment/treatment or clinical advice on the care of a patient.
Immunisation
Vaccinations and immunisations .
May also contain vaccination-related information - such as vaccine declined.
Uncategorised
Coded record entries not associated with a main clinical area of the record. These are split across three views:
i) Administrative items
These include tasks such as scheduling and administering clinical care encounters, clinical communication with other care organisations, administering and monitoring of critical safety processes such as repeat medication administration and call/recall for care. Not all clinical systems support administrative items.
ii) Clinical items
Items of information relating to the care, health, or wellbeing of the patient. Examples of this type of information include screening information and past medical history.
iii) Observations
A clinical observation recorded by health professionals during assessment or care of their patients. Examples include blood pressure measurement, weight, height, or temperature measurement.
Access Record: Structured data items
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Allergies and Adverse Reactions | Contains each substance or class of substance recorded on the GP practice record of an allergy or intolerance, a propensity, or a potential risk to an individual, to have an adverse reaction on future exposure to the specified substance or class of substance |
| Medications | Contains each medication/medical device being taken, taken in the past or to be taken in the future that is recorded on the GP practice record. |
| Immunisations | Contains all records of the event of a patient being administered a vaccination or where there is an intention to administer a vaccine which does not occur. This may be a contemporaneous record by the clinician administering the vaccination or it may be a record of an immunisation administered elsewhere as reported to the registered GP practice. |
| Uncategorised Data | Contains data that a clinician/user will enter without identifying what type of information they are recording. This information is usually entered as a combination of clinical code(s), values, qualifiers, and text. |
| Consultation | For GP Connect, a consultation is the structure within which source systems group one or more clinical record entries which occurred at the same time and for the same or similar purpose attributed to or asserted by the same actor. |
| Problems | Contains specific clinical items in the medical record identified/highlighted by a clinician that describe the status of the patient’s health. |
| Investigations | Includes any investigation results contained in GP systems that have been received from the lab by an EDIFACT message. |
| Referrals | Contains outbound referral events as recorded in the GP clinical system’s referral feature or categorised area. A referral is typically defined as a request for transfer of care or request to provide assessment, treatment, or clinical advice on the care of a patient. This GP Connect profile is intended to align with this definition, but records may be included which are outside of the scope of this definition. |
| Documents | Contains clinical documents, defined as a written, printed, or electronic record that provides evidence of medical care. |
| Data Entries | Contains proposals for clinical action to be undertaken at an indicative date in the future, which has not been completed or cancelled. A diary entry is dated but unscheduled - that is, it is not an appointment (but may result in an appointment being created) and resources are not directly committed to it. |
Update Record data items
GP Connect: Update Record allows authorised clinicians to update a patient's GP record from a community pharmacy with structured data.
Each message sent using this integration uses the GP Connect Messaging components, MESH, and ITK3, to deliver the message.
Pharmacy First services supported
- blood pressure check service
- minor illness and common conditions service
- oral contraception service
Data items
- Consultation information: Where and when the consultation took place between the patient and the healthcare professional, along with the pharmacy service used (for example blood pressure check service), and information about the healthcare professional, and their role (for example pharmacist or pharmacy technician).
- Patient information: Information pertaining to the patient that used the service notably, their NHS number, name, and date of birth
- Medications: Dispensed medications from community pharmacy as part of a Pharmacy First Consultation for example, the Pharmacy First Minor Illness, or common conditions services.
- Presenting complaint: The complaint that the patient presented with when accessing the Pharmacy First Minor Illness or Common conditions service, for example, urinary tract infection.
- Observations: Any observations taken during the Pharmacy First Consultation
Send Document
The Send Document capability provides a simple and standardised way of updating a patient’s GP record with an attachment after an encounter with another Health or Social Care professional.
The most common format of the attachment is a PDF; however, other attachment types can be sent.
See an outline of the list of supported types.
Appointment Management
Appointment Management is used to allow Consumer systems book appointments on behalf of a patient into their registered practice or another care setting, such as via NHS111.
Appointment Management data items
Part A) Patient Message Structure – returning Patient Information to support the appointment
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Patient Reg Type and preferred Branch Surgery | For example, GMS-registration, temporary, emergency |
| Patient Language(s) - Communication Preferences | Communication Language Preferences, including Interpreter flag Sign Language |
| Patient EPS Nominated Pharmacy | As recorded on PDS |
| Patient NHS Number | |
| Patient Active Indicator | |
| Patient Name(s) | |
| Patient Telecom Details | |
| Patient Gender | |
| Patient Birth Date | |
| Patient Deceased Date/Time | |
| Patient Address | |
| Patient Contact Party Details | A contact for the patient for the purposes of the appointment booking - for example, Carer guardian, partner, friend – Name, Address, Telecom/Email, relationship with patient |
| Patient Usual GP Practice | Patient's Nominated Primary Care Provider - practitioner |
| Patient Managing Organization - providing the patient record | May be registered GP, or in a federated set up, the GP practice providing the appt |
B) Patient Appointment Message Structure
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Future Booked Appointment | Any future appointments booked for a patient from and including the day the request for the information is made. |
| Future Booked Appointment Description and Comment | Summary – limited non-coded description of 100 chars to convey high-level reason for the appointment and non-coded Comment of 500 chars to contain limited further pertinent supporting information. |
C) Practitioner Message Structure – returning information about the Practitioner(s) assigned to the Patient appointment
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | |
| Gender | |
| Practitioner Language(s) - Communication Preferences | Communication Language Preferences, Sign Language represented here |
Last edited: 16 May 2025 3:02 pm