Hi all,
I’m seeking support on how to best manage addresses returned from the FHIR API. The API will return up to 5 line objects and a separate postcode, however if any of the lines are blank they are not returned.
Is there guidance/recommendations on how to display this information and nicely map this to separate address line fields without displaying the wrong information in the wrong field?
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris, we are actively engaged in discussions regarding the topic at hand. Rest assured that this thread will be promptly updated once guidance becomes available. Kindly revisit this thread periodically for further updates. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Hello,
Just enquiring on this issue to check if there has been any progress made?
Thanks
The handling of Addresses in PDS is being actively considered, but there are lots of complications in the interactions of existing interfaces and specifications.
We’re trying to work on the future state and design how we get to that point, given the potentially thousands of different consumers and interactions that have to be taken into account.
Please bear with us whilst we try to plan this out.
Did you have a specific issue with the blank lines in PDS FHIR API (this is one of the key pain points for many people)
Thanks for responding. The main issue I have seen is when anything other than 5 lines of addresses are returning in the FHIR API. If there are 5 lines it is easy to map to the associated FHIR address fields, but if there are say only 3 lines returned in an address line, it is unclear how to reliably know which line is missing.
As an example, in the attached screenshot, how could we determine that Tadworth in this example should be address line 4 (i.e. post town) and that line 5 (Surrey) is missing?
Oak House
Boxhill Road
Tadworth
Do you need the line positions for anything other than mapping to labels in fields - e.g. do you have downstream requirements for a specifically formatted address.
I’m trying to gather use cases on how the address is actually used. e.g. if it is just displayed, then there is no need to have specific field places and the adderss can just be listed out as lines.
However, if you have a downstream use for the address that requires that you know the specific fields (e.g. town) then that is different.
Note that future strategy is hopefully that comms are all sent by NHS Notify, so they handle address formatting for post with address info directly from PDS, if a letter even needs to be sent (NHS App preferred route to reduce costs)
Hi Adrian,
In short, yes, because we display the discrete address fields (address lines, city, district/state etc) for patients when creating an attendance.
The main issue is in clearly differentiating what are the correct city and district/state (county) fields. The address lines are less important.
The UI is largely modelled off FHIR.
thanks
Thanks for the response, it helps us understand how people are using PDS APIs.
Hopefully, we’ll have some news about direction on this soon.
