Healthcare Worker - FHIR API

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1

Is the Healthcare worker API available for testing on the INT environment?

I’ve followed the documentation but when making a request in the format below, which I believe is correct, I get a 404 response with no content.

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://int.api.service.nhs.uk/healthcare-worker/Practitioner?identifier=REDACTED&_revinclude=PractitionerRole:practitioner' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer REDACTED' \
  --header 'X-Request-ID: UUID_HERE' \
  --header 'apikey: REDACTED'

My understanding from the docs is that the auth should be identical to the PDS auth. Making a PDS request in this format works as expected:

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://int.api.service.nhs.uk/personal-demographics/FHIR/R4/Patient/1111111111' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer REDACTED' \
  --header 'X-Request-ID: UUID_HERE' \
  --header 'apikey: REDACTED'

Any help on this would be really appreciated.

2

Hi Gareth,

I’ve moved this topic in to the from the e-RS to the SDS category as I understand it is this team that support the Healthcare Worker - FHIR API.

Thanks,

Adam.

1 Like
3

One other thing to get clarification on: the format of the response in the documentation for the endpoint does not match what the sandbox endpoint actually returns, see example:

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Is the format of the response on INT/LIVE going to mirror the schema in the docs or the current payload on sandbox?

Many thanks

4

Hi @adam.oldfield is there a better support channel to contact the SDS team on? There doesn’t seem to be much traffic in this subforum and it’s not clear who the admins are.

Thanks

Gareth

5

@lucy.killick1 @nhserspartners Are you able to help Gareth get in touch with someone that supports the Healthcare Worker API?

Thanks.

1 Like
6

@adam.oldfield @gareth.perkins - I reached out to a colleague in that team yesterday and sent them the link to this page so hopefully they’ll get back to you soon.

7

Any update on this? Also, does anyone know the status of the Healthcare Worker API and Is this API available in the INT environment?

8

Hi @gareth.perkins - I’ve recently joined the team looking after Healthcare Worker API. Sorry for the delay in confirming this - but yes - Healthcare API is available for testing in INT. Are you still having an issue with the API returning a 404 response?

9

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your reply, we have resolved the 404 response issue and now have a working implementation of the Healthcare Worker API on the integration environment.

However, there are still some discrepancies in the response formats between the integration environment, sandbox environment, and the published API documentation.

It seems the Healthcare Worker API returns different FHIR Bundle structures across environments and does not match the published documentation, creating uncertainty about production behaviour.

We have started the onboarding process from the developer portal and are looking to go live on the production environment. Can you confirm what format the production environment returns?

Gareth

10

Hi Gareth

Thanks for coming back to me. I’ve had a look through your onboarding information on the developer portal and will pick up on this over the coming days. There is a known issue with the format in the documentation that we are working to resolve. I’ll pick up with colleagues and get confirmation on the format for the production environment.

11

Hi again Gareth

The known issue I mentioned only relates to our Sandbox environment documentation (the example response is incorrect). Can you confirm:

  • The documented FHIR bundle structure for Sandbox doesn’t match the bundle structure you are seeing in Sandbox or INT environments?
  • Are the FHIR bundle structures for Sandbox and INT consistent?

Thanks, Sarah

12

Hi Sarah, thanks for clarifying the documentation issue.

I confirm the documented schema shows a practitioner wrapper object containing the Bundle, both Sandbox and Integration environments return direct FHIR Bundle format without any wrapper.

The Bundle structures are consistent between the sandbox and integration environments

Gareth

13

Apologies for the delay in coming back to you on this. I don’t think we’ll be able to fix the issue with the sandbox immediately. I’m assuming you need an example (correct) API response for practitioner role in order to move you forward? I am trying to get hold of this - but if there is anything else that will be helpful in lieu of the documentation fix - please could you let me know?

14

Hi Sarah, thanks for getting back to me. Yes, knowing what the prod end point payload returns would aid us going live in the production environment.

Our platform integrates with many of the NHS API endpoints, some of which return healthcare worker SDS user IDs. We currently display these IDs as we have no easy way of displaying the users’ names—a common feature request from our users. This Healthcare Worker API integration would address this issue directly.

We’d be willing to help troubleshoot any issues from a consumer perspective, as this feature will be of great benefit to us and other providers.

Regarding our onboarding status: I submitted our information on 16th January, and the status has been ‘in review’ since 22nd January with no updates. I appreciate the onboarding process can take some time, but could you provide a timeline I can share with our stakeholders? They’re asking for updates on when we might expect approval.

Thanks for your help with this.

15

Hi Gareth - appreciate the update. Apologies for the delay in onboarding. I’ve reviewed and approved the organisation and product sections of the onboarding service. The next sections - I’ll be discussing with colleagues next week and will be in contact with follow up questions. I’m not getting updates via the onboarding portal currently - so message me if you experience any delays or have any additional questions (in addition to the one I’m currently trying to answer!). My email is sarah.bucknall1@nhs.net.

16

Hi again Gareth - I now have sample production responses for practitioner, practitioner role, practitioner role with role and practitioner role with organisation. Here is the sample response for practitioner. Let me know if you’d like me to send the others:

{
  "resourceType": "Bundle",
  "type": "searchset",
  "total": 1,
  "entry": [
    {
      "search": {
        "mode": "match"
      },
      "resource": {
        "resourceType": "Practitioner",
        "id": "123456789012",
        "active": true,
        "identifier": [
          {
            "system": "https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/sds-user-id",
            "value": "123456789012"
          }
        ],
        "name": [
          {
            "use": "usual",
            "family": "Bloggs",
            "given": [
              "Fred"
            ],
            "prefix": [
              "Mr"
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      "fullUrl": "https://prod.api.service.nhs.uk/healthcare-worker/Practitioner/123456789012"
    }
  ],
  "link": [
    {
      "relation": "self",
      "url": "https://https://prod.api.service.nhs.uk/healthcare-worker/Practitioner"
    }
  ]
}
17

Hi Gareth,

We’ve updated the Healthcare Worker API specification - it should now match the responses you are seeing in the various environments (sandbox, integration test and production).

Please let us know if you still see any discrepancies.

We’re also working on improving the field descriptions in the schemas.

And we’re also working on improving the sandbox environment to be more sophisticated - instead of returning the same response regardless, it will respect the identifier, _revinclude and _include request parameters.

Watch this space.

18

Thank you @tony.heap, thats great news and will do

Gareth