Overview
Referrals cross organisational boundaries. Our integrations let patient details, referrals, documents and images move securely between the systems each organisation already uses.
- Patient identity and records
PDS, Summary Care Record, Patient Flags
- Referrals and booking
e-Referral Service, Booking and Referral Standard, practice software
- Secure messaging
MESH, GP Connect, NHSmail
- Imaging
Arcovis PACS, Image Exchange Portal
- Hospital eye care systems
OpenEyes, Medisoft
- Connecting securely
NHS Care Identity Service, Health and Social Care Network
Patient identity and records
Personal Demographics Service (PDS)
PDS is the national record of NHS patients' details. We look patients up in PDS by NHS number or by their details, and confirm who they are against the authoritative record before a referral is made, so the right patient is referred, with an up-to-date address and GP practice, and duplicate records are avoided.
Summary Care Record (SCR)
The Summary Care Record holds key information from a patient's GP record, such as their medicines and allergies. Authorised clinicians can view it from a referral or an Advice and Guidance conversation, once they have confirmed the patient's consent and their legitimate relationship with the patient.
Patient Flags API: Reasonable Adjustments
The national Reasonable Adjustment Flag records the adjustments a patient needs to use health services, such as communication support or accessible appointments. We read it through the NHS Patient Flags API and show when a patient has one, so services can plan care around their needs.
Referrals and booking
NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS)
Our platform works with the NHS e-Referral Service through its APIs, so referrals can be sent into national referral pathways and earlier e-RS referrals for the same patient are taken into account. OPERA+ adds newer API-based workflows, including working with e-RS referral worklists.
Booking and Referral Standard (BaRS)
BaRS is the NHS standard for booking appointments and sending referrals between services. Through it, NHS 111 can search the free appointment slots in an urgent eye care service and book the patient straight in, with the referral following the booking.
Practice management software
Dental and optical practices can send referrals straight from their own practice software, using our API or the national Eyecare Electronic Referral Service (EeRS) contract, so patient details don't have to be typed in again.
Secure messaging
MESH
MESH (the Message Exchange for Social Care and Health) is the NHS's secure way of sending messages and documents between organisations. We use it to exchange clinical documents with other NHS services; every file is checked for malware before it is sent or opened, and acknowledgements are recorded.
GP Connect: Send Document
Over MESH, the national GP Connect Send Document standard files clinical letters, such as outcome letters, directly into the patient's record at their registered GP practice, whichever GP system the practice uses.
NHSmail
Notifications and correspondence go to services and clinicians through NHSmail, the secure email service for health and care, keeping patient information within NHS-approved email.
Imaging
Arcovis PACS
Arcovis is our cloud picture archiving and communication system (PACS). Images that come with a referral, such as retinal photographs, OCT scans and radiographs, are stored in Arcovis, linked to the patient's record and viewable by the clinicians reviewing the referral.
Image Exchange Portal (IEP)
The Image Exchange Portal is the network NHS hospitals use to share medical images with each other. Our IEP integration sends images from our PACS to the receiving hospital, so their team has the scans alongside the referral, with no discs to post and no need to repeat imaging.
Hospital eye care systems
OpenEyes
OpenEyes is the electronic patient record used by many NHS hospital eye services. We know which eye departments use it, so referrals from community optometry and their images reach those teams in a form they can work with.
Medisoft
Medisoft is the ophthalmology electronic patient record used across many other NHS eye units. As with OpenEyes, referrals and images for hospitals using Medisoft are delivered in a way that suits how their teams work.
Connecting securely
NHS Care Identity Service (CIS2)
Healthcare professionals can sign in with their NHS smartcard or other NHS Care Identity Service credentials. The same identity gives access to national services such as PDS and the Summary Care Record, in line with each user's role.
Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)
Our service is connected to HSCN, the data network for health and care organisations, which national NHS services use to connect securely.