Purpose
To meet strategic objectives to improve access to GP Care, the (Patient Facing) Prescriptions Management API enables patients (via a consumer application) to view medications, order a repeat prescription, cancel their prescription requests and track the status of their prescription requests.
Service discovery
The default Prescription Management flow is shown in the diagram below. It utilizes APIM to handle the discovery of the patient's GP in the 'Identify Routing' step. The patient's NHS number is provided via NHS App login. Both the NHS number and ODS Code are then sent to the API producer.
This flow is suitable for Prescription Management consumers that want to view medication or manage a medication order.
User needs
Increasingly patients want to be able to manage their prescriptions without interacting with practitioners and relying on paper prescriptions. Patient-facing Services, in combination with the Prescriptions API, and practitioner systems, allows patients to manage electronic prescription orders and send them to the practitioner directly. This enables patients to create, track, and cancel their prescription orders at any time of day no matter where they are located.
Actors
| Actor | Description |
|---|---|
| Patient Facing Service (PFS) | This actor is the consumer application which is used to manage medication and prescriptions on behalf of the patient. This system places the prescription order and sends the cancellation of the prescription. |
| Practitioner System | This actor is the application which is used to process prescriptions and medication on behalf of the practitioner. The system will send prescriptions on to the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) once approved by a practitioner for dispensing. |
| Prescription Management API | This actor is the communication touch point between the PFS and Practitioner System allowing transactions to take place. There is no human actor behind this system. |
| Practitioner | This human actor is a person who is directly or indirectly involved in the provisioning of healthcare to the patient. This actor may be a clinician or clinical support staff. |
| Patient | This human actor is the subject of medication treatments. They make use of PFS to manage their medication and prescription orders. |
Business requirements
The Prescription Management API documentation contains the set of business and solution requirements as defined in the API specifications and FHIR profiles. The Prescription Management API specification shall be regarded as authoritative where difference, contradiction, or inaccuracy is identified between the specification and the following user stories.
The requirements and resulting API design have been developed in collaboration with NHS England, the GP Principal System Suppliers, clinical and GP practice administrative stakeholders.
User Stories
The Prescription Management business requirements are described as a set of high-level user stories:
| As a | I want | So that |
|---|---|---|
| Patient | To view all medications previously prescribed to me regardless of prescription type | I have a view of the medications I have been prescribed over time |
| Patient | To view medication available for repeat prescriptions | That I am aware of what medications I have available to me. |
| Patient | To request one or multiple repeat medications | I do not need to contact my GP practice. |
| Patient | To cancel un-actioned prescription requests | I do not need to contact my GP practice. |
| Patient | To add free text for new requests | I can provide the GP with additional information where applicable. |
| Patient | To track a prescription request | I can see exactly where my prescriptions request is within the workflow. |
| Patient | to make a one-off pharmacy nomination when making a medication request | I can pick up my prescriptions local to wherever I am. |