ePMA Implementation Guidance for FHIR STU3

This guidance is under active development by NHS Digital and content may be added or updated on a regular basis.
Please note: This guidance has been superseded by the Implementation guide for digitial medicines, which contains up-to-date information.

Adoption of a common POST query syntax would allow the same software to, for example, POST a FHIR resource point-to-point to a dispensing system, POST a FHIR resource to a service like the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS), or POST a FHIR resource to a shared records service. A service like the EPS may require some additional data elements, but the mechanism of posting can be the same, using a different base URL technical end-point.

Adoption of a common GET query syntax would allow the same software to, for example, GET FHIR resources from a GP system or GET FHIR resources from shared records service. The query syntax can be the same, using a different base URL technical end-point.

POST Interactions

When POSTing a FHIR resource using a RESTful API use;

POST {fhir_server_base_url}/{resource}

For example;

POST https://myfhirserver.net/medicationrequest

with a Body containing a single FHIR resource. Other resources referenced must be referenced with valid identifer values to allow the FHIR server to locate those resources.

{
    "resourceType": "MedicationRequest",
    "identifier": "a54219b8-f741-4c47-b662-e4f8dfa49ab6"
    // etc.
}

When POSTing a FHIR Message use;

POST {fhir_server_base_url}/$process-message

with a Body containing a FHIR Bundle within which is a FHIR MessageHeader resources and multiple FHIR resources;

{
  "resourceType": "Bundle",
  "id": "0A1FD9EF-A3D5-4E95-84CD-552070A03083",
  "identifier": {
    "system": "https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122",
    "value": "34470bbf-07cb-4b49-bef9-f958114f821f"
  },
  "type": "message",
  "entry": [
    {
      "fullUrl": "urn:uuid:0A1FD9EF-A3D5-4E95-84CD-552070A03083",
      "resource": {
        "resourceType": "MessageHeader",
        "id": "0A1FD9EF-A3D5-4E95-84CD-552070A03086",
        "eventCoding": { }, // etc.
        "sender": { }, // etc.
        "source": { }, // etc.
        "destination": { } // etc.
        }
    },
    {
      "fullUrl": "urn:uuid:a54219b8-f741-4c47-b662-e4f8dfa49ab6",
      "resource": {
        "resourceType": "MedicationRequest",
        "identifier": "a54219b8-f741-4c47-b662-e4f8dfa49ab6"
        // etc.
}

GET Interactions

To query a FHIR server for a specific resource by identifier;

GET https://{fhir_server_base_url}/{resource}?identifier={value}

For example;

GET https://myfhirserver.net/MedicationRequest?identifier=a54219b8-f741-4c47-b662-e4f8dfa49ab6

To query a FHIR server for a specific resources for a given patient;

GET https://{fhir_server_base_url}/{resource}?patient.identifier=https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/nhs-number|{NHS_Number}

For example;

GET https://myfhirserver.net/MedicationRequest?patient.identifier=https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/nhs-number|123543254
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