Frequently asked questions
How does the DDS deal with left and dead patients?
Left and dead patients are retained in the database; information in those records may be needed for retrospective analytics such as trends.
Inner NEL have applied to EMIS for left and dead patients for the past 10 years; EMIS have quoted for all 3 STPs but an order has not yet been placed.
Why are some fields not transformed in DDS?
This may be due to a particular field not being the safest option; for example, practice codes instead of names and GP registration codes instead of GP names.
| Mapping documents are available for each source system. |
Mapping documents are available for each source system.
Where a field is missing from the DDS please discuss with us as we may have access to the data but are yet to be asked to transform it.
Currently the HSCN link is 10MB/Sec as that is all that is required, it is shared across all STP clients. This can be scaled as required in increments of 1MB/Sec up to 1GB/Sec, This costs £70 per 1MB/Sec per month +VAT & can be scaled with about 2 weeks notice, current load is peaking at ~60% of capacity for brief periods. Peak usage is normally TPP bulks being sent to us, Emis bulks would also be similar in profile, these are very short peaks (less than 5 minutes).
HL7 matching - How does DDS match ORUs/ADTs to existing patient data and what will happen to the ORU/ADT if no patient is found or there are multiple matches?
We don't match, every source organisation has its own instance of a patient.
Answered in Jira - https://endeavourhealth.atlassian.net/secure/RapidBoard.jspa?rapidView=80&projectKey=HIPRP&modal=detail&selectedIssue=HIPRP-29
Records with missing NHS numbers, are they kept in DDS, are they reported to the publisher or subscriber?
Yes, records do exist without NHS numbers within DDS, we do not currently report back to publishers on this. On a project by project basis we can set the subscriber cohort to either send these to a remote subscriber database or hold them back. If an NHS number is added to that record, it would be updated within DDS and the whole patient record would pass to the subscriber as a delta update.