Skip to content

Going Live ‐ Next steps

Harry-nhs edited this page Jun 22, 2026 · 4 revisions

End-User Clinical Safety Review of the Consumer Supplier System

As part of accepting the consumer supplier system, the end-user organisation must comply with clinical risk management standards DCB0129 and DCB0160, and assess the system's clinical safety.

As part of the obligation to comply with DCB0129 and DCB0160, the end-user organisation should appoint a Clinical Safety Officer (CSO) who must:

  • Review the consumer supplier's clinical safety case report and hazard log.
  • Accept and mitigate any relevant clinical risks.
  • Establish their own clinical safety case report and hazard log in readiness for GP Connect implementation.
  • Ensure any relevant clinical risks and mitigations passed from the supplier are included in the local safety documentation.

For further information, refer to the Clinical Risk Management Standards documentation - more information on the clinical risk management standards.


Going Live

Once technical conformance has been issued and the relevant clinical safety processes are complete, the following steps are required to bring a product into live use.

Step 1 – Request Access to the Spine Directory Service (SDS) FHIR API

You must request access to the SDS FHIR API via the Developer Hub.

Create a Production Application

  1. Create a new application.
  2. Select Production as the environment.
  3. Select Add APIs.
  4. Choose Spine Directory Service.

The API will initially show as Pending/Requested until enabled by NHS England.

Information Required by Your Onboarding Lead

Provide the following details to your onboarding lead:

Field Value
App Name <Company - Application Name - Prod>
App ID (Production Application) <App ID>
Requester Organisation <Organisation Name>
API Product Requested SDS FHIR API
ASID Not Applicable
ODS Code Connected to the ASID <ODS Code>
Third-Party Supplier ODS Code (if different) <ODS Code>
Test App ID (used during assurance) <Test App ID>

Authentication Details Required.

Application-restricted RESTful APIs - signed JWT authentication - NHS England Digital

Please confirm which option (A or B) you would like to proceed with and provide the relevant information:

Option A – Self-Hosting

Provide:

<JWKS Endpoint URL>

Option B – NHS England APIM Hosting

Provide:

<KID>
<Public Key>

Completion

Once enabled by NHS England, the Spine Directory Service API will show as Enabled within your Production application.


Step 2 – Notify NHS England of Your Go-Live Intent

The consumer supplier or end-user organisation must notify NHS England by email and provide the following information.

Required Information

  1. Chosen Topology

  2. Expected go-live date.

  3. ODS codes of all organisations that will access GP Connect through the new product.


Step 3 – National Data Sharing Agreement (NDSA)

All end-user organisations must have signed the Sign up to National Data Sharing before requesting live access.

It is the responsibility of you, as the consumer supplier, to ensure this has been completed by your end-user organisations before you request live endpoints.


Step 4 – Live ASID Allocation

The GP Connect team will request live ASIDs for all ODS codes that will access GP Connect via the new product.

Timescales

  • Turnaround time can be up to 5 working days.

Outcome

You will receive:

  • Confirmation of allocated ASIDs.
  • Instructions regarding live certificate requirements.

Step 5 – Go Live

The end-user organisation can proceed with go-live.

NHS England does not mandate any specific testing activities at this stage.


Step 6 – Post Go-Live Monitoring

NHS England will monitor transactions immediately following go-live.

If No Issues Are Identified

Go-live will be assumed successful.

If Issues Are Identified

NHS England will contact:

  • The consumer supplier, or
  • The end-user organisation

to investigate and resolve any issues.


Live Service Endpoints

SDS FHIR API

https://api.service.nhs.uk/spine-directory/FHIR/R4

PDS FHIR API

https://api.service.nhs.uk/personal-demographics/FHIR/R4/

Spine Secure Proxy (SSP)

Hostname

proxy.national.ncrs.nhs.uk

IP Addresses

155.231.63.155
155.231.63.220

National Service Desk Registration

You must register to enable access to the NHS National IT Customer Support Portal Customer Service Portal - Customer Support

Organisations must register separately for each NHS England service they consume, even if the same contact details are used.


Incident Reporting

Once live, consumer suppliers should follow the GP Connect Incident Reporting process


Expanding a Deployment

If an end-user organisation wishes to extend its deployment to:

  • A new location, or
  • A new organisation,

the organisation should contact the GP Connect Team at england.gpconnectonboarding@nhs.net


Additional GP Connect Use Cases

Suppliers wishing to onboard additional GP Connect use cases must engage with the GP Connect Team from the start of the assurance process.

Once the proposed use case has been approved:

  • GP Connect will assess whether existing SCAL evidence can be reused.
  • Additional assurance requirements will be confirmed if necessary.

Certificate Renewal

If your GP Connect certificate is approaching expiry, refer to the guidance for:

Renewing a GP Connect certificate.

Clone this wiki locally