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GP Connect prerequisites and expressing an interest
The GP Connect Direct Care API products have basic interoperability requirements so that they can integrate with other NHS England APIs.
Before you start developing, read the GP Connect specifications and the key prerequisites listed below.
Once you have read the information you will need to submit an expression of interest to the team for approval of your use case. You cannot begin assurance without this.
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You must have access to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). The HSCN provides a reliable, efficient, and flexible way for health and care organisations to access and exchange electronic information.
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You must be Personal Demographics Service (PDS)-compliant or capable of performing a PDS search via NHS England or a third-party provider. PDS is the national electronic database of NHS patient details such as name, address, date of birth and NHS number - also known as demographic information.
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From May 2023 it will now be mandatory that all User Interfaces are compliant with 'AA' standard of the WCAG2.1 guidelines. You will be asked to confirm this as part of the assurance process. There is further information in the NHS Service Manual and on the NHSE Standards for web products guidance.
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Data should be stored or processed within the UK. If not, you may have to undergo a risk assessment to ensure the appropriate controls are in place. NHS and social care organisations can safely locate health and care data, including confidential patient information, in the public cloud. This includes solutions that make use of data offshoring. The NHS and social care data: off-shoring and the use of public cloud services guide explains the safeguards that must be put in place to do so, including considerations about where the data can be located.
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You must be able to comply with the GP Connect information governance (IG) model. To comply, you must be able to supply the organisation at which the end-user is located or the service they are working on behalf of when they make an API call. Please visit the Information governance page for further information.
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You must manage access to your system locally using role-based access control (RBAC). This does not need to be compliant with the national RBAC model and GP Connect products do not require smartcards to control access, though they can be used if already implemented.
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GP Connect products can only be used to support direct patient care of NHS-funded patients, and the care must be clinically led (that is, patient-facing services are not currently supported).
- Your organisation must have a clinical safety officer (CSO) and be compliant with DCB0129 and DCB0160 standards under the Health and Social Care Act 2021. For more information on clinical risk management standards, please visit the NHS England Clinical Safety Team page. Compliance with DCB0129 and DCB0160 is mandatory under the Health and Social care Act 2012.
If you are confident that you can meet the prerequisites, please express an interest with the GP Connect team by submitting a use case.
To complete the assurance process and before going live, the connecting party will be required to sign a Connection Agreement. This agreement outlines the responsibilities, obligations and terms of use for the consumers. The Connection Agreement covers other NHS England products, so you may already have signed a copy from another integration. If you have, you will be required to sign again to agree to the GP Connect terms.
You can see a draft copy at Operations - NHS England. A bespoke copy will be provided by your assurance lead during the assurance process.
The main purpose of the use case is to help the GP Connect team understand how you plan to use GP Connect APIs and the business issue you are looking to address.
You can submit your use case directly to the GP Connect team by completing a use case submission form.
Following the approval of a use case, development work should be started within 6 months of use case approval. If this date is missed, a review or new submission of the use case will be required. Changes or additional development will also require a review or new use case submission.
Once your use case has been received, we will respond within 14 calendar days. Subject to approval of the use case, the next steps are:
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The GP Connect team will support you through the assurance process through to go live. A GP Connect service practitioner will discuss the assurance process and artefacts with you to help you understand the requirements.
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Development work should be started within 6 months of use case approval. If this date is missed, a review or new submission of the use case will be required. Changes or additional development will also require a review or new use case submission.