Personal Demographics Service integration guidance

PDS does not have a user interface. This means end users cannot be accessed directly. Instead, users access PDS indirectly via user-facing applications:

These applications access PDS via system-to-system interfaces such as the PDS FHIR API or PDS MESH.

User-facing applications can be local, regional or national in scope.

For PDS to work well, user-facing applications need to follow certain rules for various use cases, such as:

• searching for and identifying a patient
• synchronising a local patient record with PDS
• updating patient information
• adding a new patient to PDS, for example a newborn baby
• registering a patient with a GP
• marking a patient as restricted or sensitive
• handling data quality issues such as duplicates and confusion cases

To provide the best experience for healthcare workers and patients, local user-facing applications should be integrated with PDS:

Where local integration is not available, healthcare workers and patients can use our national applications:

The following table is a list of national user-facing applications.

The following table lists the various system-to-system interfaces that user-facing applications can use to integrate with PDS.

A patient might interact with a healthcare worker at a care setting:

• in person
• on the phone
• on a video call

Before performing any patient-specific actions, the healthcare worker must first identify the patient.

Detailed guidance on this use case is to follow, but in the meantime see integration guidance for the PDS HL7 V3 API.

Some user-facing applications keep their own copy of key patient information, such as name, address and contact details. This is a local patient record.

If an application has a local patient record, it must:

• be linked to the patient's national record in PDS using their NHS number
• be synchronised with PDS regularly to keep both the local record and PDS up to date

Detailed guidance on this use case is to follow, but in the meantime see integration guidance for the PDS HL7 V3 API.

Detailed guidance on this use case is to follow, but in the meantime see integration guidance for the PDS HL7 V3 API.

Patients born in England, Wales or the Isle of Man must be added to PDS and given an NHS number at birth.

This is done by the midwife responsible for the birth, whether it be in a hospital or at home.

If the midwife has access to a Patient Administration System (PAS) or similar that's integrated with PDS, they can use that software to add the patient to PDS and notify the birth.

The PAS uses the PDS HL7 V3 API to access PDS. In the future, the PAS will be able to use the PDS FHIR API.

Or, if the midwife does not have access to a PAS that's integrated with PDS, they can use our Birth Notification Application (BNA) to add the patient and notify the birth.

BNA is part of National Care Records Service (NCRS). It uses an API to access PDS.

For either method, the midwife must be strongly authenticated via a smartcard or modern alternative, using NHS Care Identity Service 2.

Once the patient is added to PDS, PDS sends notifications off to:

• child health services
• the NHS newborn hearing screening service
• the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Other interested parties can also receive birth notifications by subscribing to PDS Notifications via the National Events Management Service (NEMS).

Detailed guidance on this use case is to follow, but in the meantime see integration guidance for the PDS HL7 V3 API.

If a patient isn't born in England, Wales or the Isle of Man, they must be added to PDS and given an NHS number when they first interact with the NHS.

Often, this happens when they register with a GP for the first time. As part of the registration process, the GP receptionist uses their GP software to:

• search for the patient in PDS to confirm that they don't already have a record
• add the patient to PDS
• create a local patient record and link it to the patient's national record via their NHS number

The GP software uses the PDS HL7 V3 API to access PDS. In the future, it will be able to use the PDS FHIR API.

Sometimes, a patient might attend another care setting, such as an accident and emergency (A&E) department in a hospital, without having registered with a GP. In this case, the A&E receptionist uses their Patient Administration System (PAS) to:

• search for the patient in PDS to confirm that they don't already have a record
• add the patient to PDS
• create a local patient record and link it to the patient's national record via their NHS number

The PAS uses the PDS HL7 V3 API to access PDS. In the future, it will be able to use the PDS FHIR API.

If the PAS doesn't have the capability to add a new patient to PDS, it just creates a local record for the patient without linking it to a national record. If the patient subsequently gets a national record by registering with their GP and then attends the same care setting again, the PAS will then link the local record to the national record.

Detailed guidance on this use case is to follow, but in the meantime see integration guidance for the PDS HL7 V3 API.

Detailed guidance on this use case is to follow, but in the meantime see integration guidance for the PDS HL7 V3 API.

See Restricting access to a patient's demographic record.

See National Back Office for the Personal Demographics Service.

Use PDS MESH for this use case.

Do not use Demographics Batch Service - this service is deprecated.

Further details to follow.

Details to follow.

Patients can update their own information in PDS using the following national patient-facing applications:

Other patient-facing applications can also include the ability for a patient to update some of their information in PDS.

To do this:

• the patient must be strongly authenticated using NHS login
• the application must use the PDS FHIR API in patient access mode