Patient we were using is no longer found

Personal Demographics Service (PDS) Personal Demographics Service FHIR API
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1

Hi, we have some users set up with NHS Login and EMIS etc we were using in the integration environment for testing. However I’ve noticed some strange behaviour, some of the users are no longer findable with PDS.

E.g. NHS number: 6121663642

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Can I have some insight on whats going on for this user which was previously working?

Thanks,
Josh

2

Hi.

Given the NHS number provided does not start with a 5 or 9, it would appear it is not an NHS number for test data. Please could you confirm the NHS number provided is correct.

Thanks

3

Hi Josh,

There are no controls to prevent ‘static’ PDS test data from being modified by consumers of PDS FHIR API. Modifications can result in the resource changing in such a way that it is unavailable.

The risk is reduced but not removed if you request that NHS England generate a set of patients for you to use. In our experience it’s more resilient to design test cases and protocols in such a way that they are not dependent on specific patients and patient characteristics being present in the PDS FHIR API in INT. I appreciate that this is not trivial where you need to ensure consistency across multiple information systems!

Hope this is of help!
Dunmail