Onboarding to the National Record Locator (NRL) v3.0

This page describes the onboarding process for organisations and suppliers integrating with the National Record Locator (NRL) v3.0.

NRL onboarding is delivered through the NHS England Digital Onboarding Service (DOS), and follows a structured, stage-gated assurance model.

Progression between stages requires confirmation from NHS England teams and satisfactory completion of the required evidence.

NRL onboarding is mapped to the following DOS stages:

DOS Stage 0 – Pre-onboarding prerequisites

Before entering the formal onboarding process, your organisation must have:

• A valid Organisation Data Service (ODS) code
• Completed Data Security and Protection requirements (DSPT or equivalent)
• A clearly defined NRL use case
• Confirmation that your solution meets the basic eligibility criteria for connecting to NRL

You cannot proceed to DOS Stage 1 without these prerequisites in place.

DOS Stage 1 – Setup and eligibility

At this stage, NHS England will:

• Confirm organisational eligibility to connect to NRL
• Review and validate your proposed use case
• Confirm high-level non-functional expectations, including:
  • Security
  • Performance
  • Availability
  • Resilience
• Identify key technical and operational contacts

You will also:

• Create or confirm access to the NHS Developer Portal
• Request NRL APIs to be added to your onboarding account
• Receive an App ID and associated credentials for non-production environments

Progression to Stage 2 requires confirmation that eligibility has been approved.

DOS Stage 2 – Non-functional and clinical safety assurance

Before technical testing begins, you must provide evidence demonstrating compliance with required standards.

This includes:

• Clinical risk management documentation (for example, DCB0129 / DCB0160 where applicable)
• Hazard log and mitigation evidence
• Information governance confirmation
• Security architecture documentation (if required)
• Confirmation that non-functional requirements are met

NHS England will review submitted evidence and may request clarification or updates.

Progression to Stage 3 requires formal confirmation that assurance requirements have been satisfactorily addressed.

DOS Stage 3 – Technical conformance and testing

Once assurance approval is received, you will begin technical onboarding.

You must:

• Configure credentials for Sandbox and/or Integration (INT) environments
• Complete conformance testing against the NRL API specification
• Demonstrate your approved use case in line with the agreed requirements
• Capture and submit required test evidence
• Address any issues identified during review

Testing may require iteration. You will not progress until evidence is accepted.

Successful completion of this stage results in technical conformance approval and the issuance of a conformance certificate.

DOS Stage 4 – Legal agreement and production access

Before production access is granted, you must:

• Sign the required connection agreement
• Sign any applicable data sharing or legal agreements

Once agreements are completed and approved:

• Production credentials will be issued
• Access to the production environment will be enabled
• Smoke test will be performed to confirm that the integration is working as expected in the production environment before full operational use

You may then begin using NRL v3.0 in accordance with your approved use case.

NRL onboarding typically involves the following environments:

• Sandbox – Initial integration and development testing
• Integration (INT) – Formal conformance testing
• Production – Live operational environment (access granted only after Stage 4 approval)

Access to each environment is controlled and dependent on the successful completion of prior stages.

Note: Access to related APIs such as the Spine Secure Proxy (SSP) or the National Document Repository (NDR) requires separate onboarding and approval, where applicable.

NRL onboarding is stage-gated. Progression between DOS stages requires:

• Submission of required documentation or evidence
• Review and confirmation by NHS England teams
• Resolution of any identified issues

Timelines vary depending on the complexity of your integration and the completeness of submitted evidence.

Incomplete documentation, unclear use cases, or failed test evidence may delay progression.

For onboarding queries:

• Contact the NRL onboarding team via the NHS Developer and integration hub
• Refer to the NRL v3.0 API specification for technical requirements
• Refer to the Service catalogue for detailed onboarding artefacts and templates