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Outpatient letter

Allows clinical information to be recorded, exchanged and accessed consistently across care settings for digital outpatient letters.

Documentation

About this standard

Publisher
Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB)
Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) logo
Status
Active
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Active. Active standards are stable, maintained and have been approved, assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.

Deprecated Deprecated standards are available for use and are maintained, but are being phased out, so new functionality will not be added.

Retired standards Retired standards are not being maintained or supported and should not be used.

Standard type
Information standards
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Collections. A Collection is a systematic gathering of a specified selection of data or information for a particular stated purpose from existing records held within health and care systems and electronic devices.

Extractions. An extraction is a type of collection that is pulled from an operational system by the data controller and transmitted to the receiver without additional processing or transcription by the sender.

Information standards. Information standards are agreed ways of doing something, written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions.

Technical Standards and specifications. Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.

Contact point

Using this standard

Is part of
  • Transfer of Care Initiative
    The Transfer of Care initiative has been mandated by the NHS Standard Contract. It includes a group of related standards covering inpatient, emergency care, mental health and outpatient settings.

Topics and care settings

Topic
  • Care records
  • Continuity of care
  • Demographics
  • Information governance
  • Key care information
  • Patient communication
  • Prescribing
  • Referrals
  • Tests and diagnostics
Care setting
  • Community health
  • Hospital
  • Mental health
Dependencies

This standard needs to be reviewed and implemented alongside:

  • SNOMED CT
  • Health Level 7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)
    Health Level 7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (HL7 FHIR) is a standard for health care data exchange, published by HL7®.
  • Electronic systems both sending and receiving
Related standards

This standard relates to the group of standards by the PRSB known as the transfer of care standards.

Review Information

Contributor
Professional Record Standards Body

Page last updated: 29 August 2024