Provider-led service selection following triage

In some referral pathways, referrals are first sent to a Referral Assessment Services (RAS), or a Single Point of Access (SPoA) service, where a clinician reviews the referral information and determines the most appropriate next step in the patient's care.

Following clinical assessment, the referral may be directed to a different service, booked directly into an appointment or sent to another RAS for further assessment.

We are extending the existing API to support referral redirection by service providers.

The changes described in this update provide API support for provider systems to carry out service selection and progress referrals following triage. The capability will be limited to referrals managed by triage services.

The initial API changes are intended to allow authorised Service Provider Clinician (SPC) and Service Provider Clinician Admin (SPCA) users to:

• search for a service
• update the referral shortlist
• book an appointment, defer booking or send the referral to a RAS

This functionality will help provider organisations route patients to the right service more efficiently.

It supports SPoA service models and makes it easier to build integrated solutions. It also provides a more consistent experience across the e-RS API and web application.

The planned changes are additive and do not remove or alter any existing functionality.

Adoption of the new provider-led journey is optional, and existing partner systems using the API in a referrer context will continue to operate as they do today.

If your integrated system supports provider triage workflows, you should assess how these enhancements could be incorporated into your integration to support referral redirection, SPoA service models and booking workflows.

Further technical documentation and implementation guidance will be provided as development progresses.

This feature expands functionality across four existing endpoints.

1.  Patient service search (A010).
2.  Change shortlist (A031).
3.  Retrieve appointment slots (A015).
4.  Book or defer appointment (A016).

Patient service search (A010)

Partner systems use Patient service search (A010) to identify services that are clinically appropriate for a patient.

We plan to make this endpoint available to authorised SPC and SPCA users.

A new optional UBRN field will be added to the request.

For:

• SPC and SPCA users, the UBRN must be supplied to identify the referral for which the search is being performed
• Referring Clinician (RC) and Referring Clinician Admin (RCA) users, the UBRN field will remain optional and will not affect the services returned

Change shortlist (A031)

Partner systems use Change shortlist (A031) to change the services on a referral shortlist.

We plan to make this endpoint available to authorised SPC and SPCA users.

Updating the shortlist does not, by itself, result in the referral being sent or an appointment being booked. Where the provider system is completing the next action, Book or defer appointment (A016) must also be used to book an appointment, defer booking or send the referral to a RAS.

This is consistent with existing shortlist behaviour in the e-RS API.

Retrieve appointment slots (A015)

Partner systems use Retrieve appointment slots (A015) to retrieve available appointment slots for a directly bookable service. These slots can then be used to book an appointment with Book or defer appointment (A016).

We plan to make this endpoint available to authorised SPC and SPCA users.

Book or defer appointment (A016)

Partner systems use Book or defer appointment (A016) to book an appointment, defer a booking or send a referral to a RAS.

We plan to make this endpoint available to authorised SPC and SPCA users.

The changes are not expected to be breaking. However, we recommend that partners using the affected endpoints:

• review the changes and assess whether there is any impact on their existing integration
• ensure their software can accommodate the additive changes
• include the affected endpoints in their normal regression testing to confirm that existing workflows continue to work as expected

Partners planning to implement this feature, should: