Generic additional guidance for using the Subscription API

Updating a Subscription

The National Events Management Service does not support different versions of Subscriptions, therefore any changes to a subscription will require that the existing subscription is deleted, and a new one created.

NHS Numbers

Any NHS Numbers included within a subscription sent to the NEMS Subscription API MUST have been verified against the Spine PDS at the point of calling the subscription API.

Information on how to verify an NHS Number against the Spine PDS is available on the Spine Core specification.

Note: The Demographics Batch Service (DBS) should not be used as it will not meet the requirement above.

Endpoint Registration

To use the NEMS subscription API the submitting system will require national assurance and must be set up as a Spine Endpoint with an associated endpoint certificate (see here for details). The endpoint ASID on which the subscription API message set is register MUST contain the ODS Codes which will be used within the subscriptions and match the MESH mailbox ODS Code.

JWT

All requests SHALL include a JWT with information about the requesting system and user (see the Spine Core specification for details). Additional NEMS specific requirements for population of the JWT are outlined below.

JWT Claims

claim Required requirements
scope Mandatory The scope claim must be either patient/Subscription.read or patient/Subscription.write
sub Mandatory If requesting_user claim is included in the JWT then the value of the sub claim must match the value of the requesting_user. If requesting_user claim is not present in the JWT then sub claim value must match the value of the requesting_system claim.
requesting_system Mandatory The requesting_system claim SHALL include the ASID of the system making the request to the API. This ASID must be valid and be registered with the Spine.
requesting_organisation Mandatory The requesting_organisation claim SHALL include the ODS code for the requesting organisation. The ODS code must be known to Spine and it must be associated with the ASID included within the requesting_system JWT claim.
requesting_user Optional The requesting_user should contain the identity of the Health or Social Care professional making the request.
requesting_patient Optional If included the requesting_patient is provided it SHALL include a valid NHS number.

NEMS Supported MIME-types

The supported MIME-types for the Subscription API are:

  • application/fhir+xml
  • application/fhir+json
  • application/fhir+xml;charset=utf-8
  • application/fhir+json;charset=utf-8
  • application/xml+fhir
  • application/json+fhir
  • application/xml+fhir;charset=utf-8
  • application/json+fhir;charset=utf-8

Where the MIME-type is not supplied the NEMS will default to application/xml+fhir;charset=utf-8

Tags: fhir