Frequently asked questions

How does the DDS deal with left and dead patients?

We retain left and dead patients in the database as the information in those records may be needed for retrospective analytics e.g. 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.

Fields that are not transformed into the DDS?

This may be due to the field not being the safest option, e.g. we pick up practice codes rather than names and GP registration code rather than the GP names. 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.

Is the 10 MB/sec HSCN network connection shared between STPs or just NWL? Does that create a data bottleneck?

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