Guide to creating services in the NHS e-Referral Service on the Path to Live environments
Overview
This guide is for users in the Path To Live (PTL) environments to create and manage e-RS services for testing purposes.
It is not intended for service administration in the live environment.
- Service definer role
- NHS trust site
- Patient Administration System (optional)
- Commissioner role (optional)
1.0 Service definer role
Services are held in an e-RS repository called the Directory of Services (DOS). It holds information describing the services that organisations offer.
Read the guidance on the DOS before continuing.
In order to create and maintain services in the e-RS, a service definer role is required at the assigned trust. This role should be assigned to you at the trust organisation.
If you are missing this role, please contact the IT Operations Centre ([email protected]) requesting that it be added to your user profile.
You will need to provide:
- NHS trust organisation (ODS) code
- SDS role ID (usually R0050, Consultant)
- which environment you are working in
2.0 NHS trust site
Your assigned trust must have at least one trust site configured.
As part of your data pack, you will be assigned test:
- patients
- GP surgery
- NHS trust organisation
- NHS trust site
3.0 Patient Administration System (optional)
Services are categorised into 3 types.
- Bookable services, which can either be Directly Bookable (DBS) or Indirectly Bookable (IBS).
- Triage services, also known as Referral Assessment Service (RAS).
- Advice and Guidance service.
DBS means that appointment slots are published on e-RS, allowing a user to book them directly. To publish this type of service you will require a Patient Administration System (PAS) to supply appointment slots to e-RS. This then allows the provider system to be selected in e-RS for slot polling and booking related messages.
Services can be created without a PAS but they will be an IBS. Meaning that patients can be referred to them but appointments cannot be booked directly within e-RS.
Our IT Operations Centre (ITOC) can create appointment slots for your test services, if you do not have your own integrated PAS.
Please note that we provide appointment slots via our test PAS as a courtesy to allow functional testing. We do not offer any support for PAS issues or config changes.
NHS England will not accept responsibility for missed test schedules.
4.0 Commissioner role (optional)
The e-RS DOS can contain both locally commissioned and nationally available services. Commissioned services are typically primary care services which are required based on locally identified needs.
To set up commissioned services, the commissioner role is required at the assigned organisation.
Read more about the commissioning functions within e-RS.
Last edited: 19 March 2025 1:26 pm