# Does anyone have a full list of Spine services? **Category:** [open forum](https://openhealthhub.org/c/open-forum/9) **Created:** 2021-04-19 11:11 UTC **Views:** 1314 **Replies:** 16 **URL:** https://openhealthhub.org/t/does-anyone-have-a-full-list-of-spine-services/2393 --- ## Post #1 by @aflinton Looking through Spine Services & trying to separate into Synchronous vs Async. So far my list is: PDS SDS Mesh CP-IS SCR e-RS EPS RAF (is that live yet?) Smartcards? Anything missing from that list? Anything up coming which going to be added? TIA Adam --- ## Post #2 by @pacharanero This is a great question and one that I was discussing with some of the API and Developer Hub people at NHSD last week. I can think of one that's missing: FGM-IS, which is (I think) somewhat similar to CP-IS, but a separate service. There is apparently some disagreement/debate even within NHSD as to which services are 'officially' under the Spine brand or banner. Which seems bonkers, but hey ho. As to which are asynchronous and which are synchronous... presumably that would be in the documentation somewhere. Maybe we could create a resource here that lists them all? With expansion of the acronyms and links to main documentation sites? This would make a great Markdown table. I could make the topic into a Wiki so that a wider number of people can edit? --- ## Post #3 by @aflinton Excellent idea..... Would have to subdivide something like Mesh so that as new message types etc are added to that..... etc. --- ## Post #4 by @mayfield.g.kev What do you mean by async and sync. A business interaction where a request is sent and a response would be delivered at a latter time Technical interaction where a response may be instantaneous or delayed (some spine interactions do this). The business ones tend to be MESH, NEMS and Transfer of Care based. Both flavours of EPS is also traditional messaging. I personally prefer to use the Business Setting filter on the catalogue https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue --- ## Post #5 by @mayfield.g.kev What is RAF - Is it reasonable adjustments? Under this filter https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue?r43_r1:filters=key-care-information --- ## Post #6 by @agreenhalgh There's a table in the External Interface Spec which lists the pattern for each interaction: [https://nhs-prod.global.ssl.fastly.net/binaries/content/assets/website-assets/spine-eis/eis12.3--part-3--messageinteractionmap.doc](https://nhs-prod.global.ssl.fastly.net/binaries/content/assets/website-assets/spine-eis/eis12.3--part-3--messageinteractionmap.doc) It's dated but probably does what you want, and has the detail as in lots of cases the pattern differs between different interactions in the same service. Aled. --- ## Post #7 by @aflinton Yes RAF = Reasonable Adjustments --- ## Post #8 by @aflinton By Sync vs Async I mean Synchronous use cases (e.g. PDS Lookup) vs Asynchronous (for example sending a message via Mesh ) --- ## Post #9 by @aflinton Cheers Aled, Kinda shocked that LRS is still existing...... --- ## Post #10 by @richarddobson Bit of a history lesson about the legacy spine (BT design). Broadly speaking two key documents cover the legacy interfaces: - The External Interface Specification - (inc. integration patterns) - The Message Implementation Manual (MiM) - (inc. the HL7v3 message payloads e.g. PDS, SCR, EPS, etc) Across each spine domain (PDS, SCR, e-RS, EPS, ..), the interactions are mapped to either sync and async business responses. All very complicated and difficult to identify within a mass of documentation. Thankfully with the new NHS Digital API Management platform, all the APIs are synchronous, so the complexity of handling async patterns has gone away. As Kevin mentioned, pretty much all of the service details are published here - https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue My quick list: PDS Legacy HL7v3 - mixture of sync and async patterns SCR Legacy HL7v3 - mixture of sync and async patterns EPS Legacy HL7v3 - mixture of sync and async patterns e-RS Legacy HL7v3 - async pattern GP2GP HL7v3 - async pattern ACS HL7v3 - sync pattern LRS HL7v3 - async pattern SDS LDAP - sync pattern TES Alerts HL7v3 - async (https://data.developer.nhs.uk/dms/mim/6.3.01/Domains/Alerts/Document%20files/AlertsIM.htm) PDS SOAP Web Service Mini-service - sync pattern PDS new FHIR API - sync pattern SDS LDAP - sync pattern FGM - sync pattern NRLS - sync pattern NEMS - sync pattern CPIS - mixture of sync and async patterns e-RS API - sync EPS Prescription tracker - sync Reasonable Adjustment flag - sync MESH transport - an async 'slow' channel Spine Secure Proxy - a sync 'fast' channel used for GP Connect (https://developer.nhs.uk/apis/spine-core/ssp_implementation_guide.html) --- ## Post #11 by @aflinton Wow... cheers..... Sad to see so much of my stuff now defined as legacy (sniff & sob) but.....it's not like I regretted trying to get rid of edifact & ftp so..... --- ## Post #12 by @richarddobson It terms of live volumes, it's far from legacy Adam :slightly_smiling_face: --- ## Post #13 by @aflinton Yeah we're just trying to work out the path from existing to the new & shiny fhir future..... --- ## Post #14 by @mayfield.g.kev Re async and sync. Most sync interfaces should be coming out as Fhir r4 restful api's (however the hl7 v3/fhir stu3 document approach may take longer to remove). For async they are probably coming out as fhir messages, more similar to hl7v2 than hl7 v3/fhir stu3. Both involve a move away from spine data model (sds) back to nhs data dictionary (/ods). Sds will still be present in oauth2/NHS identity --- ## Post #15 by @mayfield.g.kev [quote="richarddobson, post:10, topic:2393"] Thankfully with the new NHS Digital API Management platform, all the APIs are synchronous, so the complexity of handling async patterns has gone away [/quote] :) erm... refer to my clarification comment on patterns (its still there but fingers crossed nobody will use it) --- ## Post #16 by @tonyheapnhsdigital Hi there, I'm the lead product owner for API Management at NHS Digital. I echo Kev and Richard's comments above - the best way to get a full list of NHS Digital APIs, including details of the payload format and transport mechanism, is via our new API catalogue at https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue. The catalogue includes tags and filters so you can filter by care setting, business use, technology or API type (central service, intermediary service or standard). Moreover, we're keen to receive your feedback and suggestions via our interactive product backlog at https://nhs-digital-api-management.featureupvote.com/, where you can comment, upvote or suggest new features and APIs for us to consider. --- ## Post #17 by @Joelvis There have been recent updates on the API Catalogue section and API Specifications pages. These updates include: * Improved and more comprehensive API Catalogue filters * New introductory page per API * New API Specifications page template and layout * API Try out function improved If you want to suggest something or get involved directly with the catalog team, you can do so at the link below. https://calendly.com/nhsd-apimanagement/nhsd-dev --- **Canonical:** https://openhealthhub.org/t/does-anyone-have-a-full-list-of-spine-services/2393 **Original content:** https://openhealthhub.org/t/does-anyone-have-a-full-list-of-spine-services/2393