Component Architecture
The NHS App architecture should be tracked as a set of component dependencies rather than a single system.
Use Architecture Index for page contracts, route taxonomy, and sequence diagrams.
Use Interface and Assurance Layer for the drill-down view of supplier interfaces, API / Message Exchange for Social Care and Health (MESH) routes, partner onboarding, and assurance controls that sit beneath these components.
Simplified Component View
Use this as the orientation view. The detailed dependency view below keeps the route-family and interface distinctions that matter for evidence and assurance.
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graph LR
DPHC["DMedC / DPHC\nregistration context"] -. evidence gap .-> NHSApp["NHS App"]
NHSApp --> Identity["Access and identity\nNHS account / login"]
NHSApp --> Core["Core national services\n111 / Health A to Z / Find services"]
NHSApp --> GPLinked["GP-linked services\nrecords / prescriptions"]
NHSApp --> Provider["Provider routes\nappointments / documents / results"]
NHSApp --> Messaging["Messaging\nNHS Notify"]
NHSApp --> Prescribing["Prescriptions\nEPS context"]
GPLinked --> National["National dependencies\nPDS / PCRM / ODS / Spine"]
Core --> CoreRoutes["Public web / NHS login\nnational APIs"]
Provider --> Aggregator["Aggregator / Wayfinder\nand PEP routes"]
Identity --> Assurance["Onboarding and assurance"]
GPLinked --> Assurance
Provider --> Assurance
Messaging --> AssuranceDetailed Component Dependency View
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graph TD
Cohort["DPHC cohort"] --> AccessGate["Mobile access and cohort gate"]
AccessGate --> NHSApp["NHS App"]
NHSApp --> Account["NHS account / NHS login"]
NHSApp --> CoreNational["Core national services\n111 / information / choices"]
NHSApp --> PFS["GP Connect Patient Facing APIs"]
PFS --> APIPlatform["NHS API Platform"]
APIPlatform --> PDS["PDS"]
APIPlatform --> ODS["ODS"]
ODS --> SDS["Spine Directory Service"]
SDS --> GPSystem["GP clinical system"]
GPSystem --> IM1["Interface Mechanism 1"]
NHSApp --> Notify["Messaging / NHS Notify"]
Notify --> NotifyAPI["NHS Notify API / MESH"]
Notify --> PDS
DMICPEvent["DMICP appointment event / feed"] -. candidate .-> Adapter["Controlled adapter"]
Adapter -. candidate .-> IdentityChecks["Patient / ODS / suppression checks"]
IdentityChecks -. candidate .-> NotifyAPI
NHSApp --> PCA["Patient Care Aggregator\n/ Wayfinder"]
PCA --> ERS["e-RS"]
PCA --> GetAppointments["Get Appointments API"]
PCA --> RecordService["Record Service API"]
PCA --> PEPAppointments["PEP appointment or\nbooking function"]
PEPAppointments --> NHSLogin["NHS login"]
PEPAppointments --> PAS["Trust PAS / booking systems"]
NHSApp --> ProviderRoutes["Provider portal / provider routes"]
ProviderRoutes --> ProviderDocuments["SHC provider document route"]
ProviderRoutes --> ProviderResults["Provider results system"]
ProviderDocuments -. "optional sub-route" .-> PEPDocuments["PEP document route"]
ProviderResults -. "optional sub-route" .-> PEPResults["PEP results-release route"]
NHSApp --> EPS["EPS context"]
Professional["Professional systems"] --> GPPro["GP Connect Professional APIs"]
GPPro --> Spine["Spine / SSP"]
Integration["Partner onboarding / assurance"] --> NHSApp
Integration --> Notify
Integration --> PCA
Integration --> IM1
DPHC["DMedC / DPHC registration"] -. unresolved .-> GPSystem
Cortisone["Programme Cortisone / InterSystems"] -. "candidate adapter or data route" .-> AdapterComponent List
| Component | Role in this wiki | Current source confidence |
|---|---|---|
| NHS account / NHS login | Access, identity, and account experience | High for public and roadmap context |
| Core national services | NHS App-presented public, authenticated-web, and national-API services including NHS 111 online, NHS Health A to Z, Find NHS services near you, organ donation, National Data Opt-Out, research, vaccination, and digital health checks | High for service taxonomy and integration style; service-specific entitlement remains conditional |
| NHS Health A to Z and NHS Service Search | Public conditions, symptoms, treatments, medicines, healthy-living, and Find NHS services near you content presented through public web integrations | High for current public-content route, user-visible labels, and 2026/27 roadmap |
| NHS App Profile | NHS number, contact details, home address, current GP surgery, health choices, App settings, and family/carer navigation | High for current user-visible catalogue; each field retains its own source, correction, change, proxy, and rollout boundary |
| Register with a GP surgery | Connected service for viewing a current GP surgery and applying to an ordinary NHS GP practice, using NHS record matching, practice acceptance and registration processes | High for ordinary NHS route; not proof of Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) GP-practice equivalence and must be governed as a DPHC transition function |
| PCRM | Back-end service that coordinates formal GP registration between new / previous GP systems and Personal Demographics Service (PDS); it works alongside Register with a GP surgery and GP2GP | High for service role and stated Defence Medical Services (DMS) coverage; not proof of named DPHC practice configuration, PDS state, record-transfer completion, or NHS App access |
| NHS 111 online / NHS Pathways / Directory of Services | Urgent-care triage and locally commissioned service signposting presented through an authenticated NHS App web route or public website | High for national service and component definition; not DPHC appointment evidence |
| NHS Blood and Transplant Organ Donor Register | Authoritative organ-donation decision service reached through an NHS App API integration | High for service-owner and technical route |
| National Data Opt-Out | National choice service recorded against the NHS number on Spine and presented through the NHS App or alternative channels | High for service definition; age/proxy and channel rules remain route-specific |
| Be Part of Research | NIHR research-participation service presented through an NHS login-enabled web integration | High for service definition; DPHC App entitlement remains untested |
| PDS | NHS number, demographics, registered GP context | High for component definition |
| Organisation Data Service (ODS) | Organisation identifiers | High for component definition |
| Spine Directory Service (SDS) | Registered-GP endpoint lookup route in the reviewed GP booking/referral guidance | High for endpoint-lookup role in the reviewed guidance |
| Spine / Spine Secure Proxy (SSP) | National infrastructure and secure proxy pattern | High for component definition and GP Connect architecture |
| NHS API Platform | API route for some NHS services | High for platform definition |
| GP Connect Patient Facing APIs | Patient-facing GP record, prescription, and permission route | High for API definition |
| Interface Mechanism 1 (IM1) | Supplier-specific GP-system interface and pairing route | High for IM1 definition and assurance process |
| Partner onboarding / assurance | Clinical safety, data protection, technical assurance, information security, and connection route | High for onboarding model |
| MESH | Messaging route used in GP Connect and NHS Notify contexts | High for route definition from official NHS architecture pages |
| Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) | Prescription infrastructure context | High for API definition |
| Online consultation systems | Named web integrations for GP medical queries and administrative requests such as letters, fit notes, test-result information and referrals | High for current partner taxonomy; supplier, practice workflow and DPHC availability are route-specific |
| Patient Care Aggregator / Wayfinder | Secondary-care referral and booking summary route, with deep links to e-RS or Patient Engagement Portal (PEP) appointment or booking functions | High for service and integration-route definition |
| Personal health records and care-plan services | Named partner routes that may expose care plans, health trackers, patient-contributed data, provider messaging, medicines, documents, results, imaging, or appointments | Moderate-high for live partner taxonomy; never treat one partner's feature set as a universal NHS App baseline |
| Provider portal / provider routes | NHS App-connected or deep-linked provider routes that may expose appointment, document, results-release, PIFU, form, or other provider-specific functions | Moderate-high for route taxonomy; every claim must be function-tagged |
| PEP appointment or booking function | Provider portal route for appointment detail, booking, change, cancellation, or deep-link actions where the portal supports them | High for Wayfinder context; not proof of documents or results |
| Secondary healthcare (SHC) provider document route | Secondary-care provider route for appointment letters, outcome letters, discharge summaries, questionnaires, and provider-held correspondence | Moderate-high for NHS App / provider document taxonomy; route-specific evidence needed |
| PEP document route | Provider portal route for provider-held letters, forms, questionnaires, discharge summaries, outcome letters, or other clinical correspondence | Moderate-high for NHS App / provider document taxonomy; route-specific evidence needed |
| Provider results system | Provider-held test-result source and release-control context | High for clinical-control concept; provider and route evidence needed |
| PEP results-release route | Provider portal route for provider-held results released through a PEP or NHS App-connected digital route | High for clinical-control concept; provider and route evidence needed |
| GP-filed document view | GP-record route for documents filed into the GP record and visible through NHS App GP health-record access | High for ordinary NHS GP-record scope; DPHC equivalence unproven |
| GP-filed result view | GP-record route for GP or hospital-ordered results filed into the GP record and visible through NHS App GP health-record access | High for ordinary NHS GP-record scope; DPHC equivalence unproven |
| NHS Notify | Multi-channel messaging service including NHS App messages, email, SMS, and letters | High for service definition |
| Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) appointment event / feed | Proposed source event for a bounded DPHC Firmbase one-way reminder route | Not evidenced; source contract, timing, identifiers, statuses, and ownership required |
| Controlled adapter | Architectural role that would transform and validate a DPHC event before an NHS-facing submission | Candidate role only; Programme CORTISONE / Health Connect is one possible implementation, not a selected design |
| Programme Cortisone | MOD digital-record programme | High for programme existence, unknown for NHS App details |