Updating the Personal Demographic Service (PDS)

When you log into Vision 3 using your Smartcard and select a patient in Registration, Consultation Manager or Mail Manager, Vision 3 runs a check with the Personal Demographic Service (PDS) to make sure the data matches.

If there are discrepancies, the PDS Mismatch screen displays with red lines showing the differences. You can pick elements from each system which are correct and update both simultaneously.

If the correct information is available:

From the Please resolve the PDS/Vision mismatches screen, highlight the correct information and select Update to change the information on the respective system.

Example:

The PDS may show a surname of 'Smith', and Vision 3 may show a surname of 'Doe', both display in red.

If 'Doe' is the correct surname, then tick the Vision 3 column against ' Doe'.

If 'Smith' is the correct surname, then tick the PDS column against 'Smith'.

Select Update to save the selection.

If the correct information is not available:

If you cannot confirm the correct information to update the discrepancy, you should select Defer. The mismatch screen displays every time you select the patient until the mismatch is cleared.

One of two possibilities occur:

  • If Identity Confirmed displays in the Patient Demographic header , it means that the only NHS Spine services available are SCR, EPSand e-Referrals, all other NHS Spine services are unavailable.
  • If Unlinked displays in the Patient Demographic header , no NHS Spine services are available for the patient.
Note - If there are inaccuracies on both sides, the update should select Defer. You can edit the patient details in Registration to update the NHS Spine demographics accordingly.

Please note the following:

  • Decoupled - Patients do not synchronise with the PDS until the discrepancy is resolved. This means that you cannot partake in any NHS Spine related activity for the patient.
  • Punctuation - Compared information is stripped of any trailing punctuation and whitespace characters. Any other whitespace is replaced with a single space character.
  • Record Lock - When you select a patient and they are synchronised in Appointments, Mail Manager, Consultation Manager or Registration, the patient record is locked, if the patient is selected during this time, they are unlinked to the PDS for that session.

If there are telephone number discrepancies, Set Contacts displays in red, see Set Contacts - England only for details.

See What Data is Synchronised with the PDS? for further details.
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