Workflow, ingestion and filing
The following section outlines common terminology used in NHS England in relation to ingestion and filing, and the usage of GP workflow for this specification.
Workflow
The term 'workflow' can be thought of as a work or task list.
It is expected that the data from this specification will be ingested by the receiving system, and stored within a holding area which is either:
- separate from the patient record
- filed as provisional until a clinician reviews and accepts the incoming data to be saved into the patient record
Ingestion
The term 'ingestion' means that the healthcare data being sent via the transport mechanism (ITK3) is automatically understood by the receiver (GP system) and mapped to its internal data model.
This is also commonly referred to as 'auto-ingestion'; however, it means the same thing.
Using someone’s name, as an example:
If data isn't auto-ingested, then a person will have to manually copy and paste the incoming data into the supplier system in the patient record.
Historically, ITK3 has been used to transfer unstructured data, that is, HTML or PDF, which have been stored, and rendered as documents. Part of this specification caters for the transfer of unstructured data, alongside structured elements.
Filing
The term 'filing' essentially means where the data is stored within the patient record within the supplier system. For example, the information relayed in the FHIR CareConnect-ITK-Encounter-1 profile may sit within the Consultations section of a supplier system.
Auto-filing
The term 'auto-filing' relates to the automatic placement of information into the patient record, with no interaction from a human whatsoever.
Auto-filing could one day be achieved, providing the data model between care settings is agreed, consistent, and contains the necessary information for 'rules' to be applied as to whether clinical engagement is required.
It is expected that these rules would be configured at a local organisation-level, and would consider the following:
- Who sent the payload?
- What information has been sent?
- Why did they send it?