Solution Data Model
Important: This site is under active development by NHS Digital and is intended to provide all the technical resources you need to successfully develop with the NRL API. This project is being developed using an agile methodology, so iterative updates to content will be added on a regular basis.
Data model
In order to support the Consumer and Provider interactions with the NRL, a data model is provided for the Pointer. The data model is purposefully lean, each property has a clear reason to exist, and it directly supports the activities of Consumers and Providers.
You can explore an in-depth view of the lean data model and the full NRL DocumentReference profile in the FHIR Resources and References section.
| Property | Cardinality | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Identifier | 0..1 | Assigned by the NRL at creation time. Uniquely identifies this record within the NRL. Used by Providers to update or delete. |
| Profile | 0..1 | The URI of the FHIR profile that the resource conforms to. Indicates the version of the pointer model. |
| Pointer version | 0..1 | Assigned by the NRL at creation or update time. Used to track the current version of a Pointer. |
| Pointer last updated datetime | 0..1 | Assigned by the NRL at creation and update time. The date and time that the pointer was last updated. |
| Pointer indexed datetime | 0..1 | Assigned by the NRL at creation time. The date and time that the pointer was created. |
| Master Identifier | 0..1 | An optional identifier of the document as assigned by the Provider. It is version specific — a new master identifier is required if the document is updated. |
| Pointer Status | 1..1 | The status of the pointer |
| Patient | 1..1 | The NHS number of the patient that the record referenced by this Pointer relates to. Supports Pointer retrieval scenarios. |
| Pointer owner | 1..1 | The entity that maintains the Pointer. Used to control which systems can modify the Pointer. |
| Record owner | 1..1 | The entity that maintains the Record. Used to provide the Consumer with context around who they will be interacting with if retrieving the Record. |
| Record category | 1..1 | A high-level category of the record. The category will be one of a controlled set. It will not be possible to create a pointer with a category that does not exist within this controlled set. |
| Record type | 1..1 | The clinical type of the record. Used to support searching to allow Consumers to make sense of large result sets of Pointers. The clinical type will be one of a controlled set. It will not be possible to create a pointer with a type that does not exist within this controlled set. |
| Record creation clinical setting | 1..1 | Describes the clinical setting in which the content was created. |
| Period of care | 0..1 | Details the period in which the documented care is relevant. |
| Pointer reference | 1..* | Information about the record referenced |
| Record creation datetime | 0..1 | The date and time (on the Provider’s system) that the record was created, for static records. |
| Record URL | 1..1 | Absolute URL for the location of the record on the Provider’s system |
| Record format | 1..1 | Describes the technical structure and rules of the record such that the Consumer can pick an appropriate mechanism to handle the record. |
| Record MIME type | 1..1 | Describes the type of data such that the Consumer can pick an appropriate mechanism to handle the record. |
| Record stability | 1..1 | Describes whether the record content at the time of the request is dynamically generated or is static. |
| Related Documents | 0..1 | Relationship to another pointer |
