NHS App Integration Route
NHS England Digital publishes routes for integrating services with the NHS App, and an NHS App API catalogue entry exists for app integration. The current technical specification distinguishes API-based integration, responsive web integration, and link-out; the visible NHS App feature may therefore be supplied by a separate national, provider, or GP system.
Use Architecture Index for route sequence diagrams and Interface and Assurance Layer for assurance checks.
For Defence Medical Command (DMedC) / Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC), this matters in two ways:
- If DPHC services need to surface directly inside the NHS App, they may need to follow the NHS App integration route.
- If DPHC services rely on GP-linked functionality, the relevant path may instead be GP system onboarding, GP Connect PFS, Personal Demographics Service (PDS) / Organisation Data Service (ODS) state, Primary Care Registration Management (PCRM) where registration changes, or Programme Cortisone integration.
Current NHS App integration evidence distinguishes several routes:
| Route | Main use | DPHC relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Public web integration | NHS Health A to Z and Find NHS services near you presented from public web content without an NHS login requirement at the integration layer. | Creates immediate user value and an integrated App journey without a DPHC GP-system interface. Public web access outside the App remains an alternative. |
| Authenticated national web integration | NHS 111 online, Be Part of Research, vaccination, and other services that receive NHS login context or require service-specific authentication. | Requires mobile account access and service-specific eligibility, age/proxy, support, and fallback tests; it does not prove GP-linked features. |
| National API integration | NHS App presentation of data or transactions held by a national service, such as NHS Blood and Transplant organ donation, NHS Notify, Patient Care Aggregator, or Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). | Requires the named API, source of record, identity/entitlement, onboarding, privacy, assurance, and failure-handling evidence. |
| Link-out | NHS App opens a separate external service, including some health-choice routes. | The App may provide navigation without owning the service or record. Test browser/mobile behaviour, identity, accessibility, support, and return journey. |
| GP-registration transition | Register with a GP surgery or a practice-managed request, followed by Primary Care Registration Management (PCRM) formal registration, PDS registered-GP change, and a separate GP2GP record-transfer process. | PCRM's stated service coverage includes Defence Medical Services (DMS), but each DPHC transition still needs practice, patient, PDS, record-transfer, exception, proxy, continuity, and post-change NHS App evidence. |
| Direct NHS App web integration | A patient-facing service launches from inside the NHS App. | Relevant if a DPHC or MOD service needs to appear directly in the NHS App. |
| Notifications and Messaging | Messages and notifications through NHS App messaging, managed through NHS Notify onboarding. | Relevant if DMedC / DPHC need to message patients through NHS App or fallback channels. |
| Patient Care Aggregator / Wayfinder appointment summary | Secondary-care referral and booking summaries, with deep links to e-RS or Patient Engagement Portal (PEP) appointment or booking functions. | Relevant to DPHC patients' NHS secondary-care journeys, but not proof of Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) / DPHC Primary healthcare (PHC) appointment visibility or management, PEP document routes, PEP results-release, or GP-record access. |
| PEP document route | Provider-held appointment letters, outcome letters, discharge summaries, questionnaires, forms, or other correspondence surfaced through a provider portal or NHS App-connected provider route. | Relevant only when the provider, document type, display/deep-link route, authentication, age/proxy handling, and DPHC registration effect are evidenced. |
| PEP results-release route | Provider-held results released through a PEP or NHS App-connected digital route, with clinical release timing, suppression, and override controls. | Relevant only when the result source, release controls, patient-facing route, age/proxy handling, and DPHC registration effect are evidenced. |
| DMICP PHC appointment visibility | Candidate read-only route from DMICP appointment / diary source data through CORTISONE / Health Connect or another transformation layer to a validated NHS-facing display route. | Needs direct DMICP feed, identity, display format, onboarding, and assurance evidence; do not infer it from Notify, PEP, or PCA evidence alone. |
| DMICP PHC appointment management | Candidate bidirectional route for booking, cancellation, rescheduling, slot search, and appointment-change requests. | Likely not available on current public evidence; needs writable appointment-book interface, write-back, conflict handling, permissions, audit, supplier/practice enablement, and NHS-facing onboarding proof. |
| GP-linked API routes | GP records, repeat prescriptions, user permissions, and GP appointment dependencies through GP Connect routes. | Likely to depend on registered GP context, GP system supplier, PDS, ODS, GP Connect Patient Facing APIs, and practice/capability enablement. |
| Supplier-interface routes | GP-system supplier interfaces such as Interface Mechanism 1 (IM1) and supplier pairing. | Relevant where NHS App or third-party software depends on a GP-system supplier interface rather than a national NHS App service route. |
| Partner onboarding / assurance | NHS England API and service onboarding for NHS App, NHS Notify, Patient Care Aggregator / Wayfinder, GP Connect, IM1 Auth Proxy Service, and related services. | Relevant to any DMedC / DPHC route that must go live as a service integration rather than merely exist as a documented API. |
Implementation Boundary
"Integrates with the NHS" is not precise enough. Programme Cortisone or any DPHC digital-service statement should be mapped to actual service routes: public web, authenticated web, link-out, national API, NHS App integration, NHS account, NHS 111 online, NHS Pathways, Directory of Services, NHS Blood and Transplant Organ Donor Register, National Data Opt-Out / Spine, GP Connect PFS, GP Connect professional APIs, Interface Mechanism 1, IM1 PFS Auth, PDS, PCRM, GP2GP, ODS, Spine Directory Service (SDS), EPS, e-RS, Patient Care Aggregator / Wayfinder appointment summary, PEP appointment or booking function, PEP document route, PEP results-release route, NHS Notify, Message Exchange for Social Care and Health (MESH), or other APIs.