Overview
Some services used within the Interoperability Toolkit (ITK) are used generically across many ITK implementations, and across all ITK transport specifications. These are the ITK Core Services documented here.
The Acknowledgements shown on the diagrams below are configurable from within the ITK Distribution Envelope. See the Acknowledgement Framework for details.
Note that some specifications, such as Admission Discharge & Transfer (ADTs) and mini-service specifications, contain service definitions that are implementation specific. Details of these service definitions are contained in the relevant Domain Message Specification.
To Send CDA Documents
This service is used to send CDA documents. All CDA documents, regardless of their maturity level, are sent using this service. For example, a CDA document with an embedded report (for example a pdf file containing a clinical report), through to a CDA document using the CDA structured text, to a fully coded CDA document will all use this service.
| Service Name | SendCDADocument-v2-0 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To send a HL7V3 CDA payload to a list of recipients. |
| Infrastructure Acknowledgements | Recipients may be required to send an Infrastructure Acknowledgement if the urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:infackrequested handlingSpecification within the Distribution Envelope is set to true. |
| Business Acknowledgements | Recipients may be required to send a Business Acknowledgement if the urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:ackrequested handlingSpecification within the Distribution Envelope is set to true. |
| Payloads | One or more CDA documents as per the published ITK CDA profiles. |
| Transport Specific Artefacts | |
| Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) | View |
To Send Documents
This service is used to send payloads that are not CDA documents, and don't have a specified service definition.
| Service Name | SendDocument-v1-0 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To send a payload to a list of recipients. |
| Infrastructure Acknowledgements | Recipients may be required to send an Infrastructure Acknowledgement if the urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:infackrequested handlingSpecification within the Distribution Envelope is set to true |
| Business Acknowledgements | Recipients may be required to send a Business Acknowledgement if the urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:ackrequested handlingSpecification within the Distribution Envelope is set to true. |
| Payloads | Any payload that is required to be sent (i.e. PDF, RTF, Image File, Kettering XML etc). |
| Transport Specific Artefacts | |
| Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) | View |
To Broadcast Documents
A broadcast is a fire-and-forget message where the delivery of the payload is not guaranteed.
| Service Name | BroadcastDocument-v1-0 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To broadcast a payload to a list of recipients. |
| Infrastructure Acknowledgements | None – There is no delivery guarantee for this service. The urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:infackrequested handlingSpecification within the Distribution Envelope should be set to "false". |
| Business Acknowledgements | None – No Business Acknowledgement on receipt. The urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:ackrequested handlingSpecification within the Distribution Envelope should be set to "false". |
| Payloads | Any payload that is required to be sent (i.e. PDF, RTF, Image File, Kettering XML, CDA etc). |
| Transport Specific Artefacts | |
| Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) | View |
To Send an Infrastructure Acknowledgement
An infrastructure acknowledgement is requested by the Sender by setting the Distribution Envelope handling specification urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:infackrequested to "true". An infrastructure acknowledgement is used to show that the transmission has reached its intended ITK end point (note that further on-ward routing may be required for the message to reach its actual intended recipients. An infrastructure acknowledgement should not be interpreted as the message has been delivered to an actual recipient).
If requested, an infrastructure acknowledgement may be generated by a routing device where routing to the next device has failed. For example, if a transmission routes from router1 -> router2 -> router3, and the router2 -> router3 leg fails, then router2 will generate an infrastructure acknowledgement containing a NACK, with the reason stating the message could not be routed on.
| Service Name | SendInfrastructureAck-v1-0 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To send infrastructure level acknowledgements. |
| Infrastructure Acknowledgements | None |
| Business Acknowledgements | None |
| Payloads | Infrastructure Acknowledgement |
| Transport Specific Artefacts | |
| Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) | View |
To Send a Business Acknowledgement
An business acknowledgement is requested by the Sender by setting the Distribution Envelope handling specification urn:nhs-itk:ns:201005:ackrequested to "true". Business acknowledgements are intended to be sent by receiving applications to indicate whether or not the message and its payload(s) has been processed.
Business Acknowledgements may not indicate clinical acceptance of the content of the message.
| Service Name | SendBusinessAck-v1-0 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To send business level acknowledgements. |
| Infrastructure Acknowledgements | Infrastructure Acknowledgement if requested |
| Business Acknowledgements | None |
| Payloads | ITK Business Acknowledgement |
| Transport Specific Artefacts | |
| Web Services Definition Language (WSDL) | View |