Personal Demographics Service - SMSP API standards
Become a Spine Mini Service Provider (SMSP) giving access to patients' personal information, such as name, address, date of birth, related people, registered GP and NHS number, using our Spine Mini Service Provider (SMSP) API standards.
About this standard
- Owner
- NHS Digital
- Status
- Active
Show definitions of statuses
Active standards are stable, maintained and have been assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.
Standards in development are APIs or API standards in alpha or beta, meaning they are available for use but are still in progress and may change.
Deprecated standards are older versions of a standard which are being phased out.
Retired standards are not being maintained and should not be used.
- Standard type
- Technical standards and specifications
Show definitions of standard types
Record standards define what information to collect and how to format it, for example when registering a new patient.
Data definitions and terminologies define the format of individual data items so they can be consistently represented, for example dates or medication names. Reference sets and controlled lists are also included.
Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.
Information codes of practice are legal or best practice guidelines on how information should be handled.
- Contact details
- api.management@nhs.net
Link to standard
- Documentation
- View documentation for this standardopens in a new tab
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Topics and care settings
- Topic
- Demographics
- Care setting
- Community health
- Hospital
- Mental health
- Pharmacy
- GP / Primary care
- Urgent and Emergency Care
Dependencies and related standards
- Dependencies
These API standards can only be used where there is a legal basis to do so.
- Related standards
The following APIs also give access to the Personal Demographics Service:
- Personal Demographics Service - FHIR API - use this newer API to search for patients, retrieve patients by NHS number and update patients.
- Personal Demographics Service - HL7 V3 API - use this Health Level Seven Version 3 API, if you want to use functions that are not yet available on the FHIR API, such as creating a new record for a birth, receiving birth notifications, or creating a record for a new patient (except when registering a new patient at a GP Practice, use National Health Application and Infrastructure Services (NHAIS)).
For birth notifications, another option is Personal Demographics Service Notifications - FHIR. - Personal Demographics Service - SMSP API - this API is now deprecated.
The following APIs are also related to these API standards:
Organisation Data Service - FHIR API - use this to get full details for the organisations related to the patient, such as their registered GP or nominated pharmacy.
Organisation Data Service - ORD API - use this to access a searchable national repository of NHS Organisation Reference Data using an ORD interface
Assurance and endorsements
- Reference code for standards issued as requirements in England
- None - not legally mandated
- Quality assurance
Not yet known.
- Endorsements
No known endorsements.
Page last updated: 17 February 2023