FAQs - Appointment Feed (HL7)

Are appointment outcomes or attendance supported in SIU messages?

Not directly.
If a past appointment does not have a status of DNA or Cancelled we assume it has been attended.
Appointment outcome information can be added to the Description field via an update.

Is the sending of a cancellation reason supported?

Not directly.
However, a workflow can be implemented whereby the cancellation reason is added to the Description field via an update prior to sending the cancel HL7 message.

What is autocreate?

If auto create is enabled (configured by PKB against the organsiation), a new patient record will be created from the PID detail in the SIU message where an existing patient record can not be found by matching the identifiers provided. (Assuming PID details conforms to minimum requirements)

Can you update/cancel an appointment that doesn't exist in PKB?

Yes, as long as the minimum required appointment details are provided in the message. When these details are provided, PKB is able to created the appointment as part of the message processing.

What happens if we can't send appointment updates because our appointments system operates a cancel and re-book only process?

Whilst PKB would prefer appointments to be managed via creation and update messages, we do have customers in this situation who send a cancellation of the original appointment, followed by a new appointment being created with the updates applied.

What happens if we send S12 (creation) messages instead of an S13/14 to update an existing appointment?

Sending another S12 for the same appointment (determined by the appointment id provided) results in the existing appointment being replaced and not updated. This results in:

• Any link to the original appointment (e.g. in a notification email) will error if used as that appointment no longer exists.

• Our reporting will be unable to distinguish between appointment creation and appointment update message volumes.

• Appointments will not show in the UI to a patient as being updated.

• Patients will get a notification to say a “new” appoinment has been added to their record, when in fact an existing one has been replaced.

Can messages be matched to a patient record on either a National or Local id?

Yes. As a standard, all messages should include a verified NHS number. However, if a patient only has a Local ID (e.g Private patient) or if an unverified NHS number is provided, the record will be matched using the Local ID.

If PKB matches the National ID to one PKB patient record and the Local ID to another, will the message be rejected?

Yes, as PKB will be unable to determine which is the correct record for data to be added to.

If soft-matching is enabled, will this apply to all messages?

There is an exception - soft matching will be bypassed if PKB detects that a previous accept/reject decision has already been made for the same data point. In that scenario the same decision will be applied to the HL7 message, regardless of whether the configured demographics fields match.
See - https://wiki.patientsknowbest.com/space/api/3365077836/Identifiers+%26+matching#Soft-matching for details on soft-matching

When will patients receive email notifications?

Whenever any SIU message is received, is not rejected and the appointment is in the future, the patient will be sent a notification email.

Will patients receive email notifications if the same message is sent again?

Yes. If PKB is sent the exact same SIU message more than once for an appointment in the future, the patient will get an email notification each time.

Will PKB support with making the feed Wayfinder compliant?

Using our experience of working successfully with many customers to help them achieve compliance, PKB will provide support, advice and guidance on how to ensure the feed is developed and tested correctly.
However, responsibility for achieving compliance and testing the feed is providing compliant data sits with the customer.

Do we have to include a phone number or email address in our Single Point of Contact information (appointment description)?

Although it is not a requirement we would recommend that you do. If you don't have one suitable for patients to cancel/reschedule, we recommend you add a central bookings or PALs number, making it clear that the number is only for queries about the appointment and not to cancel/reschedule

What HTML tags are supported in the description (NTE3.1) field?

We support some basic tags including:
<b> - bold text
<br> - line break
<li> - list item
<ol> - ordered list
<p> - paragraph

Is use of HTML supported in any other field than description?

No

What happens if we send in a specialty code that is not included in our mapped code set on PKB?

PKB will default to displaying the code exactly as it has been populated in the HL7 message and to applying the General Health privacy label.

How do we maintain/update our specialty code set?

Any new codes will have to be provided to PKB, along with their descriptions and privacy labels. These should be provided before the new codes are used in any SIU messages.