About our digital services

NHS digital services are used to deliver solutions that benefit patients, clinicians and healthcare staff across England. For example, through appointment booking, notifications and transfer of care.  

NHS digital services resources support:  

• senior leaders and decision makers overseeing digital strategy  
• service and product owners, and delivery managers planning digital solutions  
• health and care suppliers working with NHS England systems  
• developers and architects building NHS England integrations  
• healthcare professionals who want to understand existing services 

The service catalogue is the best place to find our digital services. It’s a searchable tool that shows you: 

• existing services 
• what they do 
• who they are for 
• how to start using or integrating with them 

The catalogue lists which services are right for you and how to get started. You can: 

• browse services alphabetically 
• search by keyword 
• filter by service type, function or care setting 

Use the service information to guide your whole onboarding journey. Start by exploring services and products in the service catalogue, then consider how each service could meet your needs. You should: 

• discover whether the service or product is relevant for you 
• assess if you can use the service and understand what’s required 
• plan your integration and understand environment access 
• build and test your integration using the technical guidance provided 
• assure and approve so you can go live safely and comply with NHS standards 
• go live with your integration safely and effectively, get support and adapt as needs change 

When you have identified relevant services, the API catalogue and developer and integration hub provide the related technical guidance and integration resources. 

To share patient data safely between health settings, filter the catalogue by selecting ‘patient information and demographics’. You will then see a range of relevant services including: 

• Patient Data Manager for storing and managing patient data 
• Personal Demographics Service for finding patient details 
• National Record Locator for retrieving patient records from other systems 
• Multicast Notification Service for notifying systems when a record changes 

Select Patient Data Manager (PDM) to see: 

• information about the service 
• links to the relevant API and other related services 
• examples of use 
• how it works 
• status and service level 
• planned development roadmap 
• how to access the service 

There are multiple ways to find guidance, connect with teams and get help. 

• Developer and integration hub: Guidance to help you design, build and test integrations with NHS digital services.  

• API catalogue: Detailed technical information about NHS APIs, including specifications, environments and integration guidance. Use the catalogue to understand how APIs work and how to connect to them. 

• Partner onboarding: Information to support NHS organisations and suppliers through onboarding, including requirements, assurance processes and what to expect at each stage. 

• Digital partnering hub: A space for digital leaders to get information and updates about national systems. The hub is hosted on Future NHS, so you will need a Future NHS login to access it. 

• NHS England Developer Community: A collaborative space to ask questions, share experience and get support for building digital healthcare solutions that connect with NHS APIs and services.