Naming
In order to promote consistency and make it easier for implementers to locate suitable profiles, extensions, value sets, etc, for their projects, a naming strategy will be adopted for UK Core defined FHIR assets or FHIR assets derived from the UK Core. All UK Core derived implementation guides and FHIR assets MUST follow these rules to claim conformace with the UK Core.
For detailed definitions of concepts discussed within this guidance document, refer to the appropriate published version of the FHIR standard.
- FHIR Profile name MUST follow an agreed format.
This section details a set of rules that MUST be followed when creating NHS Digital FHIR profiles. The name of a profile consists of a number of name segments, and will be in the form:-
[Base][Specialism][FHIRAssetName]
The segments are defined as follows:-
- Base: The base profile this will always be NHSDigital Mandatory
- Specialism: Required - This is only used where there are mutiple NHS Digital profiles for a given base resource type.
- FHIRAssetName: The name of the base FHIR Resource. Mandatory
Unlike CareConnect STU3, no version information is allowed in the R4 profile Name
This name MUST be used in three places:
- The profile's filename.
- The name of the profile - specifically the
name.valueelement in the StructureDefinition - The profile's logical id. This is carried in the element
StructureDefinition.id.value
Example of the name Usage
<StructureDefinition xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir">
<id value="NHSDigital-MedicationStatement" />
<url value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/StructureDefinition/NHSDigital-MedicationStatement" />
<version value="1.0.0" />
<name value="NHSDigitalMedicationStatement" />
- FHIR Profile name MUST follow an agreed format.
This section details a set of rules that MUST be followed when creating profiles derived from NHS Digital pofiles to enable the profiles to claim conformance to NHS Digital. The name of a profile consists of a number of name segments, and will be in the form:-
[BusinessName1] [BusinessName2] [FHIRAssetName]
The segments are defined as follows:-
- BusinessName1: The first business name of the profile, which could be a full name or an acronym related to the domain or project name e.g. Digital Medication. The name MUST have at least one BusinessName segment for a derived profile. Where an asset may be used across several domains, business names SHOULD reflect that.
- BusinessName2: The second business name of the profile. The asset name MAY have a second BusinessName segment.
- FHIRAssetName: The name of the base FHIR Resource. Mandatory
Important Notes:
- Unlike CareConnect STU3, no version information is allowed in the R4 profile Name
- The Profile name MUST NOT have UK Core in its name. Derived profiles MUST use the correct way to indicate derivation in FHIR is using the
StructureDefinition.baseDefinitionelement for example:<baseDefinition value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/StructureDefinition/NHSDigital-Immunization"/>
This name MUST be used in three places:
- The profile's filename.
- The name of the profile - specifically the name.value element in the StructureDefinition
- The profile's logical id. This is carried in the element
StructureDefinition.id.value
Example of the name Usage
<StructureDefinition xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> <id value="NHSDigital-MedicationStatement"/> <url value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/StructureDefinition/NHSDigital-MedicationStatement"/> <version value="1.0.0"/> <name value="NHSDigitalMedicationStatement"/>
The title of the profile MUST be the name with added spaces to make it human readable. The FHIR Resource name MUST be formatted as per the FHIR standard.
<title value="NHS Digital MedicationStatement" />
FHIR CodeSystem names MUST follow an agreed format.
Note: Some ValueSets that use SNOMED CT will refer directly to SNOMED CT artefacts for example SNOMED CT Ref Sets and there will not be a need to create a CodeSystem resource. There many be other ValueSets which follow the same principles for example LOINC.
This section details a set of rules that MUST be followed when creating FHIR CodeSystems. The filename of the CodeSystem consists of a number of name segments and will be in the form:-
[Base] [BusinessName1] [BusinessName2]
The segments are defined as follows:-
- Base: The base name this will be NHSDigital for NHS Digital CodeSystems or the name of the existing CodeSystem if it is a third party CodeSystem. For example:
- NHSDigital - CodeSystems managed by the NHS Digital development process/team
- NHSDataModelAndDictionary a CodeSystem managed by NHS Data Model and Dictionary
- For CodeSystems in derived IGs there may not be Base element
- BusinessName1: The first business name of the CodeSystem. The CodeSystem name MUST have at least one BusinessName segment, e.g. 'DigitalMedication', etc. Where a CodeSystem MAY be used across several domains, business names SHOULD reflect that.
- BusinessName2: The second business name of the CodeSystem. The CodeSystem MAY have a second BusinessName segment.
This name MUST be used as the CodeSystems's filename.
In addition, the CodeSystem's name MUST be used in two places:
- The name of the resource - specifically the name.value element
- The resource's logical ID in this element a Hypen is included after each element.
The logical ID forms the final segment of the URL of the CodeSystem resource and is used to populate its logical id (i.e. the CodeSystem.id.value element).
The title of the CodeSystem MUST be the name with added spaces to make it human readable.
<title value="NHS Digital Medication Prescribing Agency" />
Example of a NHS Digital Codesystem
<CodeSystem xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> <id value="NHSDigital-MedicationPrescribingAgency" /> <url value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/CodeSystem/NHSDigital-MedicationPrescribingAgency" /> <version value="1.0.0" /> <name value="UKCoreMedicationPrescribingAgency" /> <title value="UK Core Medication Prescribing Agency" />
Example of a NHS Data Model and Dictionary CodeSystem
<CodeSystem xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> <id value="NHSDataModelAndDictionary-PersonStatedGenderCode" /> <extension url="http://hl7.org/fhir/StructureDefinition/codesystem-sourceReference"> <valueUri value="" /> </extension> <url value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/CodeSystem/NHSDataModelAndDictionary-PersonStatedGenderCode" /> <version value="1.0.0" /> <name value="NHSDataModelandDictionaryPersonStatedGenderCode" /> <title value="NHS Data Model and Dictionary Person Stated Gender Code" />
- NHS Digital FHIR ValueSet names MUST follow an agreed format.
This section details a set of rules that MUST be followed when creating FHIR ValueSets. The filename of the ValueSet consists of a number of name segments and will be in the form:-
[Base] [BusinessName1] [BusinessName2]
- Base: a fixed value of "NHSDigital" is Mandatory for all NHS Digital ValueSets
- BusinessName1: The first business name of the ValueSet. The ValueSet name MUST have at least one BusinessName segment, e.g. 'DigitalMedication' , 'SPINE' etc. Where a ValueSet may be used across several domains, business names SHOULD reflect that.
- BusinessName2: The second business name of the ValueSet. The ValueSet MAY have a second BusinessName segment.
This name MUST be used as the ValueSet's filename.
In addition, The **[BusinessName1]-[BusinessName2] section of the ValueSet's name MUST be used in two places:
- The name of the ValueSet - specifically the
name.valueelement - The resource's logical ID.
The logical ID forms the final segment of the URL of the ValueSet resource and is used to populate its logical id (i.e. the ValueSet.id.value element).
Example of a NHS Digital ValueSet
<ValueSet xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> <id value="NHSDigital-PreferredWrittenCommunicationFormat" /> <url value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/ValueSet/NHSDigital-PreferredWrittenCommunicationFormat" /> <version value="1.0.0" /> <name value="NHSDigitalPreferredWrittenCommunicationFormat" /> <title value="NHS Digital Preferred Written Communication Format" />
FHIR Extension names MUST follow an agreed format.
The name of the extension consists of a number of name segments and will be in the form:-
FHIR extension names MUST follow an agreed format.
This section details a set of rules that MUST be followed when creating FHIR Extensions. The filename of the Extension consists of a number of name segments and will be in the form:-
[Base] [BusinessName1] [BusinessName2]
- Base: a fixed value of "NHSDigital" is Mandatory for NHS Digital Extensions
- BusinessName1: The first business name of the ValueSet. The Extension name MUST have at least one BusinessName segment, e.g. 'DigitalMedication' , 'SPINE' etc. Where a Extension may be used across several domains, business names should reflect that.
- BusinessName2: The second business name of the Extension. The Extension MAY have a second BusinessName segment.
This name MUST be used as the Extension's filename.
In addition, The **[BusinessName1]-[BusinessName2] section of the Extension's name MUST be used in two places:
- The name of the Extension - specifically the
name.valueelement - The resource's logical ID.
The logical ID forms the final segment of the URL of the Extension resource and is used to populate its logical id (i.e. the extension.id.value element).
Example of a NHS Digital Extension
<StructureDefinition xmlns="http://hl7.org/fhir"> <id value="Extension-NHSDigital-ContactPreference" /> <url value="https://fhir.nhs.uk/StructureDefinition/Extension-NHSDigital-ContactPreference" /> <version value="2.0.0" /> <name value="ExtensionNHSDigitalContactPreference" /> <title value="Extension NHS Digital Contact Preference" />
- FHIR OperationDefinition names MUST follow an agreed format.
The name of the OperationDefinition will be named using the following segment name format:
[Base]-[BusinessName]-[OperationAction]-[OperationDefinitionKind]-[Version]
The segments are defined to as follows:
- Base: The base OperationDefinition, if one is used. Optional but Mandatory for UK Core derived OperationDefinitions.
- BusinessName: A business name for the OperationDefinition. Optional.
- OperationAction: This could include a verb as the first part of the name. An example would be ‘BookAppointment’.
- OperationDefinitionKind: Choice of 'Operation' or 'Query' fixed character strings. Mandatory.
This name MUST be used in three places:
- The OperationDefinition's filename.
- The name of the resource - specifically the
name.valueelement in the OperationDefinition - The resource's logical ID.
The logical ID forms the final segment of the URL of the OperationDefinition resource and is used to populate its logical id (e.g. the OperationDefinition.id element) when published on the a national FHIR Reference server. An example URL for an OperationDefinition would be https://fhir.nhs.uk/OperationDefinition/PDS-RegisterPatient-Operation, PDS-RegisterPatient-Operation being the value of the logical id.
FHIR-NAME-06
Important note: FHIR identifier systems are to be managed by HL7 UK in partnership with NHS Digtal within a simplifer repository. Therefore this section is for information only and more detail will be given once this respository is set up.
FHIR identifier systems MUST follow an agreed format
Identifier systems may be used in the system element of the Identifier datatype. They establish the namespace for an asset's identifier.value element and have a URI datatype. This section details a set of rules that MUST be followed when creating FHIR identifier systems. The name of the identifier system consists of a number of name segments and will be in the form:-
[Base URL]-[Id]-[BusinessName1]-[BusinessName2]-[BusinessName3]-[BusinessName4]
The segments are defined as follows:-
- Base URL: The base URL, which will be in the format
https://fhir.hl7.org.uk/for new HL7 defined Naming systems. For pre-existing Naming systems other base URLs may be allowable such as for NHS Digitalhttps://fhir.nhs.uk/. This is Mandatory. - Id: The Id section of the identifier is formatted as a string 'Id'. This segment denotes that the string is an identifier system and is Mandatory.
- BusinessNames: The business name segments describe the identifier system. The first business name is Mandatory, but all subsequent ones are optional. There may be up to four business names each separated by a hyphen (-) character e.g.
https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/nhs-number,https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/sds-role-profile-id.
The following additional rules MUST also be adhered to for naming FHIR assets:-
- FHIR-NAME-07A: FHIR asset name segments MUST be human understandable. This means that the name must give a clear indication of the purpose or usage of the asset.
- FHIR-NAME-07B: NHS Digital FHIR asset names MUST follow the [Pascal Case capitalization] convention and MUST be in alphanumeric format only. In the [Pascal Case capitalization] convention, the first letter in each segment name and of each subsequent compound word must be capitalised e.g. BackColor.
- FHIR-NAME-07C: To improve the readability of long NHS Digital FHIR asset names, each string segment used to build an NHS Digital FHIR asset name, MUST be separated using the hyphen (-) character. For example :- Base-BusinessName1-BusinessName2-FHIRAssetName-VersionOfProfile or Base-BusinessName1-FHIRAssetName-VersionOfProfile
- FHIR-NAME-07D: CRUD function names MUST NOT be used in NHS Digital FHIR asset names. These are Create, Read, Update and Delete. Other variations should be avoided e.g. Retrieve, Modify, Edit etc.
- FHIR-NAME-07E: All acronyms, with the exception of those which form part of an identifier system business name, MUST be upper case. For example 'NHS' or 'SDS'. Any acronyms used SHOULD be explained in the Implmentation Guide glossary.
- FHIR-NAME-07F: The order of the BusinessName segments when more than one is used SHOULD be logical and meaningful. For example 'ADW-Accept' should be used instead of 'Accept-ADW'
- FHIR-NAME-07G: The asset name MUST have a Version segment. The version number does not have leading or trailing zeros.
Examples
Profile names:
- UKCore-MessageHeader VALID
- ADW-Encounter VALID
- UkCore-Related-Person INVALID (Hyphen in resource name)
- ITK-Read-Device INVALID (CRUD function name)
- ITK-device INVALID (Incorrect capitalisation)
- ADW-Discharge-Notice-Accept-Response-Message-Header INVALID (Too many segments, and hyphen in resource name)
- UKCore-MessageHeader-1 INVALID Version information in the name
Extension names:
- Extension-GPC-EthnicCategory VALID
- Extension-ITK-MessageHandling VALID
- ITK-Participant INVALID (No FHIRAssetName)
OperationDefinition names:
- GPConnect-RegisterPatient-Operation VALID
- eRS-Operation INVALID (No OperationConstraint)
Identifiers:
https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/nhs-numberVALIDhttps://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/localorganizationcodeINVALID (No hyphens separating business names)
Glossary
Business name: Business name is a string used to indicate the usage or purpose of the FHIR asset for a particular implementation or implementations.