GP Connect Send Document

This guidance is under active development by NHS Digital and content may be added or updated on a regular basis.
This version of GP Connect Send Document supports one use-case which is a Consultation Summary (PDF).
Additional use-cases are expected to be supported in 2023.

Integration with Spine

All messages sent to update GP systems through GP Connect Messaging capabilities have the following NHS Spine integration requirements:

  • use of MESH to send messages
  • use of ITK3 to provide a standard FHIR Message format

Additionally, as the intention of most of these messages will be to update the care record at the patient’s registered practice, most messaging use cases will make use of an additional MESH capability:

MESH endpoint lookup service

The following diagram illustrates the systems involved, and their responsibilities, in sending the consultation report document:

The steps are detailed in the table below.

Step Description
1 The sender practice GP system constructs a FHIR Message according to the ITK3 standard which contains the details of the consultation which has taken place. The message is placed in the /OUT directory.
2 The MESH Client installed at the sender practice picks up the message from the /OUT directory and sends the message securely to the central Spine MESH server.
3 The Spine MESH server extracts patient’s Surname, Date of Birth and NHS Number from the To_DTS field in the MESH message .CTL file, and then performs a PDS lookup using these details to discover the ODS code of the patient’s registered practice.
4 The Spine MESH server then uses the ODS code of the patient’s registered practice to lookup the MESH mailbox of the registered practice, where the message is then placed to await collection.
5 The MESH Client at the registered practice collects the message from registered practice mailbox and writes the collected message to the /IN directory.
6 The Registered practice GP system picks up the message from the /IN directory and updates the GP system. This is likely to be done through raising a workflow task containing the message contents.
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