Integration and documentation

Healthdirect Australia provides three types of NHSD products: FHIR services, the NHSD widget and the Provider Appointments API.

Before designing your integration solution, you should:

1. Understand the NHSD specifications and the AU Provider Directory specifications.
2. Confirm the details of your products or systems to be integrated with the NHSD
3. Confirm your use case for integrating with the NHSD.

NHSD products

Each NHSD product is explained below with supporting documentation to support possible cases for integration with the NHSD.

FHIR services

Healthdirect Australia has adopted the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards to facilitate interoperability between healthcare systems, supporting easier exchange and integration of health information.

FHIR is increasingly used nationally and internationally to support interoperable integration between health systems and services.

The NHSD has developed three services based on the latest version of the FHIR standard.

1. FHIR API: real time look up, read only access
2. FHIR Bulk Data Export: large datasets at a specified frequency, read only access
3. FHIR Ingestion and Data Acquisition Hub: write capability

NHSD widget

The NHSD widget can be easily integrated into any webpage or mobile app to support consumer search. The widget is designed to auto-adjust to suit the device displayed on desktop, mobile or tablet and can be customised to your requirements, however, this capability is on hold for the next 12 months with options pending.

More information can be found in the NHSD Widget Implementation Guide.

Provider Appointments API

The Provider Appointments API supports booking providers only.

The products and services listed below have been assessed for compatibility with the NHSD.

These products and services support providing available clinic appointments and functionality for consumers to complete online appointment bookings through real-time integration with the NHSD.

Real-time integration with the NHSD requires booking providers to:

1. Provide contextualised real-time APIs according to Healthdirect's specifications
2. Provide contextualised booking URLs to support a consistent consumer journey, allowing consumers to be directed from Service Finder to the correct appointment type
3. Onboard clinics to the booking provider’s platform and ensure appointments are configured for the expected appointment type.

For more information on the Provider Appointments API, download Onboarding Pack — Provider Appointments API

The Provider Appointments API is available after integration with the FHIR API.

Testing and conformance

To support testing in the integration process, prospective integrators should explore the secure, externally accessible integrator test environment, which is designed for both read-only and read-write functionalities.

The NHSD test environment includes:

1. Standard read-only test data area, or
2. Standard read-write test data area, or
3. Bespoke test data area which can be provided if the standard test data does not cover your use case.

To submit an application for registration and access to the NHSD Integrator Test Environment, please complete the NHSD Integrator Test Environment Registration Form.