# Is 'emptyReason' missing from the response schema in the documentation for A008?

**URL:** <https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/is-emptyreason-missing-from-the-response-schema-in-the-documentation-for-a008/4252>\
**Category:** e-Referral Service FHIR API\
**Created:** [29 January 2025 14:11 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/is-emptyreason-missing-from-the-response-schema-in-the-documentation-for-a008/4252 "2025-01-29T14:11:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sam.carter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@sam.carter](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/u/sam.carter)\
**Post date:** [29 January 2025 14:11 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/is-emptyreason-missing-from-the-response-schema-in-the-documentation-for-a008/4252/1 "2025-01-29T14:11:00Z")

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As per the title, I’m receiving an object from A008 that contains an ‘emptyReason’ key. If this is legitimate, I’ll add it to my type definitions, otherwise I’ll calculate whether the list is empty myself.

 ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/nhsdigitaldeveloper/original/1X/dfd0f30b2619be619f815078eb95d6bb1498ddff.png)

Thanks.  
Sam

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**Author:** ![adam.oldfield](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/nhsdigitaldeveloper/user_avatar/developer.community.nhs.uk/adam.oldfield/32/327_2.png) [@adam.oldfield](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/u/adam.oldfield)\
**Post date:** [29 January 2025 15:19 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/is-emptyreason-missing-from-the-response-schema-in-the-documentation-for-a008/4252/2 "2025-01-29T15:19:00Z")

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Hi @sam.carter,

Yes this is legitimate / as expected. But you are correct in that it is missing from the documented schema - I will raise an issue to get this fixed and potentially an example added.

Although not the same API [Patient service search (A010, FHIR STU3)](https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/e-referral-service-fhir#post-/STU3/HealthcareService/$ers.searchHealthcareServicesForPatient) also uses the List resource for its response. This does include the `emptyReason` in the schema and also includes an example (“Empty result list”).

Regards,

Adam.

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**Author:** ![sam.carter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@sam.carter](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/u/sam.carter)\
**Post date:** [29 January 2025 15:29 UTC](https://developer.community.nhs.uk/t/is-emptyreason-missing-from-the-response-schema-in-the-documentation-for-a008/4252/3 "2025-01-29T15:29:59Z")

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Great, thanks for confirming!