FAQs - Demographic Feed (HL7)

How does PKB handle patient merges?

PKB does not support patient merges. For this reason, PKB requires verified NHS numbers in all messages and suggests removing local ids from any message other than A28/A31. These two combined minimises the chances of a patient having multiple PKB records that would require merging.

Can an NHS number be changed via HL7?

Yes, if there is a matching local id already in the PKB record and the new incoming NHS number isn't already used in another PKB record.

What if the patient doesn't have an NHS number?

If the patient is an NHS patient, wait until the patient has a NHS number before sending the patient to PKB. If the patient is a private or overseas patient, send the patient with only the local id. See the question "What happens if I only send a local id?".

What's the purpose of including the NHS status code?

Providing the NHS status code ensures that PKB records are only created with a verified NHS number. If status checking is on, providing a status of 02 or 03 will result in the demographics being held in the Organisation Admin queue, and will require manual intervention before the record is updated.

What happens if an email is shared by multiple people?

One email can exist in only one PKB record. This means that if you send an email in that is already in use in another PKB record, the message will be rejected.

What happens if I only send a local id?

NHS number status checking IS enabled:

1. If there is a PKB record that matches on the local id provided and the record also has an NHS number, the message will go into the org admin queue for manual review. Any record creation / update will not be visible in the UI until the message is manually reviewed. AA will be returned in PKB's response.

2. If there is a PKB record that matches the local id provided and it does not have an NHS number, the mesage is accepted and the record will be updated.

3. If there is no PKB record with a local id matching the one provided then a new PKB record is created using that local id. This can potentially result in a single patient having multiple PKB records, one created with thier NHS number and another with a local identifer.

NHS number status checking NOT enabled:

The message will be accepted by PKB and the record will be created / updated.
This can potentially result in a single patient having multiple PKB records, one created with thier NHS number and another with a local identifer

When do patients get email notifications?

For a full list of what email notifications are sent and any limits that are placed on those notifications can be found in the PKB manual.

Does the order in which the segments are included in the HL7 message matter?

No, the segments can be sent in whatever order is easiest for the source system.

What if fields that PKB doesn't support are included in an A28/31 HL7 message?

PKB will ignore what isn't supported.

Which patient demographic fields within the PKB UI are not supported in an A28/31 HL7 messages?

PKB doesn't support sending in ethnicity.

What are the limits on the number of characters that can be supplied for fields?

title: 50
first name: 50
last name: 100
email: 255
phone: 100
address line 1: 150
address line 2: 100
city: 50
state: 50
postcode: 10

What country codes do PKB accept in patient addresses?

For addresses outside of the UK, the 3-character ISO 3166 country code should be used.

However, UK country codes must be provided as the 2-character code with the subdivision included:

GB-ENG

GB-SCT

GB-WLS

Can we include the time of death in our time of death timestamps?

No, only send the date.

What happens if a patient is registered with an email address and a different email is sent into the PKB record?

The new email will be added as a secondary email address in the patient’s PKB record.  The patient will receive an email to the new email address telling them how to confirm the new email.

Can a patient’s contact number(s) be removed from their PKB record via a HL7 feed?

No. Although it is possible to add/update a patients contact numbers, it is not possible to remove contact numbers in a record.

This can be done manually by patients and clinicians via the PKB UI.

Is it possible to remove all or part of a patients address in PKB?

Yes, address fields can be removed by nulling them within the HL7 message (““).

If sending an address which does not populate all the available address fields, any unusual address fields should be nulled. This is to avoid the address in PKB from containing a mixture of lines from an old and a new address.

Is it possible to remove a patients email address from PKB?

No, email addresses are used as patients PKB usernames and it is not possible to remove email addresses already held on a patients PKB record, via a HL7 message.

It is possible to add secondary email addresses to a record though. And if a patient would like to change their primary email address and remove any non-primary email addresses, they can do so manually via the PKB GUI.