How to obtain PAF keys for PDS?

Personal Demographics Service (PDS)
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1

Hiya,

Our product currently integrates with PDS using the legacy HL7v3 (MIM 3.1.11), and for fetching addresses, or posting new address to PDS, we make heavy use of the PAF key element of the address, which was required when we first integrated, and the use of the PAF key is even encouraged with the new PDS FHIR API[1].

We fetch the PAF address key for an address from the Spine Gazetteer service, however with the Gazetteer being retired in October this year, how should we fetch this? The recommendation on the Gazetteer page is to migrate to the OS Places API, however OS Places does not - as far as we’ve been able to tell - contain the PAF address key.

Within OS Places, there are two alternate attributes: UPRN, the NHS preferred option, however this is not currently supported by even the PDS FHIR APIs[2], let alone the HL7v3 integration.

The other attribute is the UDPRN, which is Royal Mail’s replacement for the PAF key – they describe it as “UDPRN stands for ‘Unique Delivery Point Reference Number’. Each UDPRN is an 8-character code that can be used instead of the current address keys on PAF”. They introduced the UDPRN as RM state the PAF Address Key is not guaranteed to be consistent over time with a single address.

Even though it’s 8-char long, like the PAF key, it’s not documented how the UDPRN was originally seeded: it’s conceivable that Royal Mail might have been initially seeded such that UDPRN == Address Key, but there’s nothing to say this is what happened.

So we are seeking advice: with the demise of the Gazetteer, and the seeming lack of PAF key in OS Places, are we able to use the UDPRN instead? If not, what is the advice from NHS on obtaining the PAF address key? It’s also possible we’ve just not seen the PAF Address Key element in the OS Places data, if so - can someone point me to it?

Thanks!

Callie

[1] “To ensure consistent data across all patient addresses, you should match addresses to the PAF and send them in PAF format including the PAF key.” – https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/personal-demographics-service-fhir#patch-/Patient/-id-

1 Like
2

Hi @alan.rawlings2 , an interesting query above, is this something you would be able to guide on ?

3

Hi @CallieJ

I can confirm the PDS FHIR API does support UPRNs. The Demographics team will update their documentation and provide an official response.

An example code would be similar to the following:

{
“patches”: [
{ “op”: “add”, “path”: “/address/0/extension/0/extension/valueString”, “value”: “123456789012” }
]
}

Kind regards,
Ernest

4

Hiya – as we currently use HL7v3 (MIM 3.1.11) to integrate with PDS, can you confirm if the HL7v3 messages support the UPRN, and if so how should we modify our messages in order to do this?

Thanks,

Callie

5

Hi @CallieJ

Only the FHIR ver supports UPRN.

6

Hi @ernest.kissiedu1

This takes me back to the original question: given the HL7v3 version still requires the PAF address key for addresses: how can we obtain this after the Spine Gazetteer is retired in October?

It seems there’s three options we need a steer on:

  • We use the UDPRN instead (as outlined in my original query); it was introduced by Royal Mail as an alternative to the PAF key, but does depend on how the UDPRN was seeded.
  • Do we just not send the PAF key - in which case we need guidance on how to process addresses for equality on receiving or before sending to ensure we don’t needlessly send an update and remain compliant.
  • Do we need to look at commercial gazetteers (QAS, Capscan, etc) to obtain this?

Thanks,

Callie

7

Hi @ernest.kissiedu1 – do you have any more feedback on this, or who best to contact if we need to take this offline?

8

HI @CallieJ

Thanks for your patience. Your query has been escalated to the Demographics team to provide an official response.

As soon as we receive any feedback, we shall update you.

Kind regards,
Ernest

1 Like
9

Hi @CallieJ

My Demographic colleagues will reach out to you directly to discuss this further before providing an official response.

Kind regards
Ernest