GP Connect - Update Record (ITK3)

Part of the GP Connect product family

Workflow, ingestion and filing

The following section outlines common terminology used in NHS England in relation to ingestion and filing, and the usage of GP workflow for this specification.

Workflow

The term 'workflow' can be thought of as a work or task list.

It is expected that the data from this specification will be ingested by the receiving system, and stored within a holding area which is either:

  • separate from the patient record
  • filed as provisional until a clinician reviews and accepts the incoming data to be saved into the patient record
Note: The data will not be auto-filed in the initial version of this specification.

This is not an ideal situation and will result in administrative burden; however, it is hoped that as clinicians become accustomed to receiving structured data (rather than unstructured documents) filing can become automated.

Ingestion

The term 'ingestion' means that the healthcare data being sent via the transport mechanism (ITK3) is automatically understood by the receiver (GP system) and mapped to its internal data model.​

This is also commonly referred to as 'auto-ingestion'; however, it means the same thing.

Using someone’s name, as an example:​


If data isn't auto-ingested, then a person will have to manually copy and paste the incoming data into the supplier system in the patient record.

Historically, ITK3 has been used to transfer unstructured data, that is, HTML or PDF, which have been stored, and rendered as documents.

While this specification uses the same vehicle as those other specifications to transfer healthcare data, it does not allow HTML to be sent within the Composition.section.text element, and mandates that structured FHIR be sent in its place - in most cases, using the GP Connect Data model.​

Filing

The term 'filing' essentially means where the data is stored within the patient record within the supplier system. For example, the information relayed in the FHIR CareConnect-GPC-Encounter profile may sit within the Consultations section of a supplier system.

Auto-filing

The term 'auto-filing' relates to the automatic placement of information into the patient record, with no interaction from a human whatsoever.

Note: There is no intention of auto-filing any payloads at this time.

However, auto-filing could one day be achieved, providing the data model between care settings is agreed, consistent, and contains the necessary information for 'rules' to be applied as to whether clinical engagement is required.

It is expected that these rules would be configured at a local organisation-level, and would consider the following:

  • Who sent the payload?
  • What information has been sent?
  • Why did they send it?
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