PDS MESH data dictionary

UNIQUE REFERENCE

Any

Mandatory field. Client generated unique reference used as a record identifier to enable the sender to identify and correlate responses.

The following characters are not allowed:
'!', '$', '%', '&', '(', ')', '[', ']', '{','}', '=', ':', ';', '#', '~', '@', '|', '<', '>', '.', '?', '_', '\\', '£'.

NHS_NO

10

NHS number used to identify a person uniquely within the NHS in England and Wales.

FAMILY_NAME

40

Surname, or family name.

GIVEN_NAME

40

Forename, or given name.

OTHER_GIVEN_NAME

100

Other given, or middle, name.

GENDER

1

Gender (sex) of the person, values:
0 = Not Known
1 = Male
2 = Female
9 = Not Specified

DATE_OF_BIRTH

12

In one of the following formats:

• full date and time (YYYYMMDDHHMM)
• full date (YYYYMMDD)
• year & month (YYYYMM)
• year only (YYYY)

POSTCODE

8

Postcode of the person’s address.

For most effective matching, enter postcodes with the correct format including a space.

DATE_OF_DEATH

12

In one of the following formats:

• full date and time (YYYYMMDDHHMM)
• full date (YYYYMMDD)
• year & month (YYYYMM)
• year only (YYYY)

ADDRESS_LINE1

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

ADDRESS_LINE2

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

ADDRESS_LINE3

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

ADDRESS_LINE4

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

ADDRESS_LINE5

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

ADDRESS_DATE

8

Unused, leave blank.

GP_PRACTICE_CODE

8

GP practice code.

NHAIS_POSTING_ID

3

Unused, leave blank.

AS_AT_DATE

8

Unused, leave blank.

LOCAL_PATIENT_ID

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

INTERNAL_ID

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

TELEPHONE_NUMBER

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

MOBILE_NUMBER

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

EMAIL_ADDRESS

n/a

Unused, leave blank.

Response reference

21

The request reference provided in the request file – for example:

Number of data records

Any

Number of data records included in the response file.

UNIQUE REFERENCE

Any

Unique reference supplied in the request file. This is used as a record identifier to enable the sender to identify and correlate responses.

REQ_NHS_NUMBER

10

Requested NHS number. Populated with the value provided in the request file. The matched NHS number is provided in the column MATCHED _NHS_NO.

FAMILY_NAME

40

Surname, or family name.

GIVEN_NAME

40

Forename, or given name.

OTHER_GIVEN_NAME

100

Other given, or middle, name.

GENDER

1

DATE_OF_BIRTH

12

In one of the following formats:

• full date and time (YYYYMMDDHHMM)
• full date (YYYYMMDD)
• year & month (YYYYMM)
• year only (YYYY)

DATE_OF_DEATH

12

In one of the following formats:

• full date and time (YYYYMMDDHHMM)
• full date (YYYYMMDD)
• year & month (YYYYMM)
• year only (YYYY)

ADDRESS_LINE1

Any

First line of a person’s usual address.

ADDRESS_LINE2

Any

Second line of a person’s usual address.

ADDRESS_LINE3

Any

Third line of a person’s usual address.

ADDRESS_LINE4

Any

Fourth line of a person’s usual address.

ADDRESS_LINE5

Any

Fifth line of a person’s usual address.

POSTCODE

8

Postcode of the person’s usual address.

DEATH_NOTIFICATION_STATUS

1

Single digit number code, 1 or 2. 1 is Informal death status where death is reported, but unconfirmed. 2 is formal death status, death has been confirmed officially.

PREFERRED_CONTACT_METHOD

1

Single digit number code as follows: 1=Letter, 2=Visit, 3=Phone, 4=Email, 5=TextPhone, 6=TextPhoneProxy, 7=Sign language, 8=NoPhone

NOMINATED_PHARMACY

5

Code to designate which community pharmacy is used for patient. Composed of double capital letters then 3 numbers, for example FC890

DISPENSING_DOCTOR

6

Code to designate which dispensing doctor is used for patient. Composed of first character is a capital letter followed by 5 numbers, for example N85004

MEDICAL_APPLIANCE_SUPPLIER

5

Code to designate which medical appliance supplier is used for patient. Composed of triple capital letters followed by 2 numbers, for example FFF14

GP_PRACTICE_CODE

8

Primary Care Provider GP practice code.

NHAIS_POSTING_ID

3

Unique code that represents the NHAIS box.

AS_AT_DATE

8

Ignore this field.

LOCAL_PATIENT_ID

Any

Ignore this field.

INTERNAL_ID

n/a

Ignore this field.

TELEPHONE_NUMBER

Any

Person's telephone number.

MOBILE_NUMBER

Any

Person's mobile number.

EMAIL_ADDRESS

Any

Person's email address.

SENSITIVITY FLAG

1

The list below contains the potential response values:

• S: Sensitive

• Y: Legacy Sensitive

• I: Invalid

• N: Legacy Not Sensitive

• B: Legacy Under Business Investigation

If the record has the value S or Y, all the location information for the patient is redacted and this field is removed from the response file. For details of data returned for S or Y flagged patients, see 'Sensitivity flag - further information', below.

If the record has the value I or B, there are issues with the record, and it should not be used.

If the record has the value N, the record is OK to be used.

MPS_ID

10

Ignore this field.

ERROR/SUCCESS_CODE

2

The code corresponding to this record.

See the person level response code table for details. 

MATCHED _NHS_NO

10

This field needs to be checked for one of the values below. If there is a match with the values below, the record has not been successfully matched. Any other number indicates a match.

0000000000: No match was found

9999999999: Multiple matches were found.

<blank>: Not enough fields provided for the trace.

MATCHED_ALGORITHM_INDICATOR

1

This will be one of the following values:

0: No Match

1: Cross Check

3: Alphanumeric

4: Algorithmic

SUCCESS

0

Successfully processed, but the record may or may not have been found.

PARSE_ERROR

1

Input could not be parsed or is invalid, for example:

The header line has empty fields

• a trace request line is blank
• a trace request line cannot be decoded (example: unsupported character set)

INVALID_REQUEST_REFERENCE

2

The request reference in the header line does not match the format:

MPTREQ_<14 DIGITS>

INVALID_WORKFLOW_ID

3

The workflow ID in the header line does not exactly match:

SPINE_PDS_MESH_V1

DATA_RECORD_COUNT_MISMATCH

4

The number of trace request lines does not match the count in the header line.

UNEXPECTED_ERROR

5

Internal error - contact the National Service Desk, with details (date, time, filename) for investigation.

MAXIMUM_RECORDS_EXCEEDED

6

Number of trace request lines exceeds current maximum allowed (500,000 lines).

FILENAME_REFERENCE_MISMATCH

7

The file name in the header line does not match the input file name.

UNIQUE_REFERENCE_ERROR

8

Deprecated

INVALID_TIMESTAMP

9

The header line timestamp must be in the format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.

REQUIRED_FIELD

10

A required trace request line field is empty – currently the only required field is UNIQUE_REFERENCE.

FIELD_LENGTH_EXCEEDED

11

A field length has been exceeded.

INVALID_GENDER_VALUES

12

Invalid value in request file.

INVALID_FIELD_FORMAT

13

Invalid field value format in a trace request line:

• dates must match the format: YYYYMMDD or YYYYMMDDHHMMSS (not DDMMYYYY and not MMDDYYYY)
• gender code must be a digit
• NHS number must be 10 digits only (no spaces)

DATASTORE_ERROR

14

Internal error - contact the National Service Desk, with details (date, time, filename) for investigation.

NO_TRACE_PERFORMED

15

The minimum criteria for a trace were not met.

NOT_ENOUGH_FIELDS_PROVIDED

16

Not enough fields provided for either a header line or trace request line -enough comma delimiters must be provided, even if the fields are empty.

NUMBER_OF_FIELDS_GRE-ATER_THAN_ALLOWED

17

Too many fields provided for a header line or trace request line - comma delimiters must not exceed the required number of fields.

SUCCESS

00 

A match is found

SUCCESS_SUPERCEDED

90

When a record is matched by cross check trace but has a superseding record, the details for the superseding record are returned. (A superseding record is a new PDS record, with a new NHS number which replaces an old PDS record.)

INVALID

91

Record tracing completed successfully, and a match was found, but the record has confidentiality status set to 'I' (invalid).

For invalid records, all details of the patient are suppressed, including the NHS number, so the response looks like the following:

02403456-031f-11e7-a926-080027a2de00,9991112758,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,91,0000000000,1,0,0,0,0,0,

where 02403456-031f-11e7-a926-080027a2de00 is the unique reference.

SENSITIVE

92

When a record is marked as sensitive, location sensitive information is not returned in queries. This includes address, GP practice identifier, contact details (phone, email) and related person details.

Can be used by any NHS patient who feels that their location details should not be accessible by the NHS, or in other situations where vulnerable NHS patients request restricted access. Access restrictions can be requested by the patient or agencies such as social services, parole boards, probation services, or the police.

NOT_ENOUGH_DATA

96

There are multiple exact matches.

Too little data has been provided to provide a meaningful match, so it's not possible to distinguish between the possible matches. For example, John Smith, male where multiple people have the same date of birth, but no address or NHS number was provided.

MPT generates response code 96 when top two records have the same score of 100 percent and either date of birth or postcode is unavailable in the request message.

MULTIPLE_CLOSE_MATCHES

97

There are multiple matches with very close match scores and no meaningful way to distinguish them apart.

NOT_FOUND

98

There is no match for the combination of data in the input

LEGACY_UNDER_BUSINESS_INVESTIGATION

95

 n/a