Using the Master Patient Tracing service with the MESH user interface

This page explains how to use the Master Patient Tracing (MPT) service to search the Personal Demographic Service (PDS) for patient details using the MESH web-based user interface (MESH UI).

You can:

• get set up to access the MESH UI

• access your MESH mailbox

• prepare a file containing the trace request

• send the trace request to PDS

• check for replies to your trace request

• download the trace request response

• troubleshoot any problems

Before you can access PDS you must complete a PDS access request form and get it approved.

There are two ways to access the MESH UI, with an:

• HSCN connection - use a smartcard connected to HSCN.

• internet gateway - use your PIN number and a one time passcode.  You must have an email address that ends with @nhs.net, @nhs.uk or @gov.uk.

Before you can access the MESH UI you need a MESH mailbox. To get a mailbox, use the MESH mailbox request form and specify under 'Your data usage' that the mailbox needs to be an 'Initiator of the workflow group "Master Patient Tracing System"'.

Once you have a MESH mailbox, you are ready to access the Master Person Tracing service as follows:

• on an HSCN connection, go to the Spine Portal and choose the “Launch MESH User Interface” option 

• for internet gateway, go to https://portal.spineservices.nhs.uk/meshui

Your MESH UI mailbox appears which looks something like this:

Your trace request must be in the form of a comma separated value (CSV) file prepared with Microsoft Excel or similar.

You must name the CSV file in a specific way:

MPTREQ_CCYYMMDDHHMISS.csv

where

• MPTREQ_ means it’s a Master Patient Tracing request

• CCYYMMDDHHMISS is the timestamp of the request - CCYY is the year, MM the month, DD the day, HH the hour, MI the minute and SS the second

• .csv is the file extension

The first row of the CSV file must contain:

• the CSV file name without the file extension

• comma

• a workflow ID of SPINE_MPTPHASE4_TRACE

• comma

• the same timestamp as in the CSV file name, repeated

• comma

• the number of records in the CSV file

For example, a single patient trace request in CSV format looks like this:

In this example, the patient’s NHS number is 9990554412 and their date of birth is 3 August 1938.

Create a new message and fill in the fields as follows:

• for ‘Select Message Type’, choose ‘Master Patient Tracing Service (SPINE_MPTPHASE4_TRACE)

• for ‘To’, choose ‘INTERNAL SPINE - INTERNAL SPINE’

• for ‘Attach a document’, select the CSV file for your trace request 

• click the Submit button to send your trace request

Check your MESH inbox for replies. Press F5 to refresh your inbox display.

Once you receive a reply in your MESH inbox, click on the download button next to the message to save the DAT file to your local machine. 

The response file is named RESP_ followed by the name of your original CSV trace request file.

You can rename the DAT file to a CSV file and import it into a spreadsheet for easy viewing. 

For example a single patient DAT response file looks like this:

To interpret all the values in a trace request response, see the data dictionary.