Use case for finding a practitioner resource by business identity

API usage

Resolve (zero or more) Practitioner resources using a business identifier (for example, SDS User Id).

Request operation

The consumer system:

  • SHALL populate the [system] field with a valid practitioner identifier system URL (for example, https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/sds-user-id).

  • SHALL apply percent encoding when constructing the request URL as indicated in RFC 3986 Section 2.1. This will ensure that downstream servers correctly handle the pipe | character which must be used in the identifier parameter value below.

FHIR relative request

GET /Practitioner?identifier=[system]|[value]

FHIR absolute request

GET https://[proxy_server]/https://[provider_server]/[fhir_base]/Practitioner?identifier=[system]|[value]

Request headers

Consumers SHALL include the following additional HTTP request headers:

Header Value
Ssp-TraceID Consumer’s TraceID (i.e. GUID/UUID)
Ssp-From Consumer’s ASID
Ssp-To Provider’s ASID
Ssp-InteractionID urn:nhs:names:services:gpconnect:fhir:rest:search:practitioner-1

Payload request body

N/A

Error handling

Provider systems:

  • SHALL return a GPConnect-OperationOutcome-1 resource that provides additional detail when one or more request fields are corrupt or a specific business rule/constraint is breached

For example, the:

  • Business identifier [system] is not recognised/supported by the provider system
  • Business identifier fails any structural validation checks (for example, length and check digits)

Request response

Response headers

Provider systems are not expected to add any specific headers beyond that described in the HTTP and FHIR® standards.

Payload response body

Provider systems:

  • SHALL return a 200 OK HTTP status code on successful execution of the operation.
  • SHALL return zero or more matching Practitioner resources in a Bundle of type searchset.
  • SHALL return Practitioner resources that conform to the CareConnect-GPC-Practitioner-1 profile.
  • SHALL populate the following Practitioner fields:
    • meta.profile with the profile URI
    • versionId with the current version of each Practitioner resource
    • identifier with relevant business identifiers (for example, SDS User Id) for each Practitioner resource
    • name
      • If the practitioner is represented with structured data such that the family name can be determined (this should be the case when they originate from an internal system) this data SHOULD be used to populate name including name.family. name.text MUST not be populated
      • If the practitioner is not represented with structured data or the family name can not be determined (this may be the case when they originate from an external system), name.text MUST be populated with the full name
    • gender where available
    • nhsCommunication with the practitioner’s language information, where available
  • SHALL meet General FHIR resource population requirements populating all fields where data is available, excluding those listed below
  • SHALL NOT populate the following fields:
    • telecom
    • address
    • birthDate
    • photo
    • qualification
{
  "resourceType": "Bundle",
  "type": "searchset",
  "entry": [
    {
      "resource": {
        "resourceType": "Practitioner",
        "id": "15",
        "meta": {
          "versionId": "636064088099800115",
          "profile": [
            "https://fhir.nhs.uk/STU3/StructureDefinition/CareConnect-GPC-Practitioner-1"
          ]
        },
        "identifier": [
          {
            "system": "https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/sds-user-id",
            "value": "111122223333"
          }
        ],
        "name": [
          {
            "family": "Black",
            "given": [
                "Sarah"
            ],
            "prefix": [
                "Mrs"
            ]
          }
        ],
        "gender": "female"
      }
    }
  ]
}