Nervecentre V8.1 Help for Users

About managing patients' records

When you register a patient, you create a local patient record in Nervecentre. Depending on your organisation, you can link a patient's local record to their patient record on PDS Personal Demographic Service, an NHS system. The PDS helps healthcare professionals to identify patients and match them to their health records. It also allows them to contact and communicate with patients..

Nervecentre shares information about the patient with PDS. Some of this information is hidden if the patient is marked as sensitive in PDS.

Nervecentre automatically checks PDS for new information at specific points. You can also manually check PDS for new information.

About managing patients' records on a mobile

You can't do this on a mobile.

About managing patients' records on a desktop

What information can Nervecentre share with PDS?

You can view information that is shared between a patient's local record and their record on PDS from Patient Detail > Patient admin > PDS Lookup.

The table below lists all information shared between Nervecentre and PDS. Some of this information is hidden if the patient is marked as sensitive in PDS.

Read more about sensitive patients

Field	Description	Sensitive
NHS number	The patient's NHS number A unique 10 digit number given to patients in England and Wales. A patient is given an NHS number when they are born, or on their first visit to a healthcare provider.. You can't add or edit a patient's NHS number in Nervecentre, but you can remove their NHS number. You can't edit a patient's NHS number on PDS. Read about removing a patient's NHS number	No
Name	The patient's title, first name, and last name.	No
Date of Birth	The patient's date of birth.	No
Date and time of death	The patient's date and time of death. If the patient is not deceased on PDS, you can add the patient's date and time of death to PDS. This marks the patient's death as 'informal' on PDS. If the patient's death is marked as 'informal' on PDS, you can edit a patient's date and time of death . You can't: Remove the patient's date and time of death if it is present Mark a patient's death as 'formal' Edit the patient's date and time of death if the patient's death is marked as 'formal'	No
Administrative gender	The patient's admin gender Used to map between the sex and gender values used in Nervecentre and values expected or sent by other systems both local, for example, a third party PAS, and central, for example, NHS Spine Services..	No
Birth Order	Where a patient is born in a multiple birth, Birth Order shows the order in which they were delivered. For example, if the patient was born before their twin, Birth Order shows 1st.	No
Birth Place	The city, district, and country the patient was born in.	No
GP practice	The address of the patient's GP. You can't update the address of the patient's GP on PDS.	Yes
Nominated pharmacy	The patient's nominated pharmacy. You can't update this on PDS.	Yes
Appliance contractor	The patient's nominated appliance contractor. Appliance contractors dispense medical devices. For example, a stoma, colostomy equipment, and medicated dressings.	Yes
Home address	The patient's primary address.	Yes
Temp address	The patient's temporary address.	Yes
Home Phone	The patient's phone number when they are home.	Yes
Mobile Phone	The patient's mobile phone number.	Yes
Home Email Address	The patient's email address when they are home.	Yes
Language	The patient's primary language and any translation needs. If you try to update the patient's language, and the patient's language isn't supported by PDS, Nervecentre blocks the update.	No

When does Nervecentre automatically check PDS?

Nervecentre automatically checks PDS for new information when you:

Register a patient using information from PDS

Nervecentre checks PDS before and after you complete the registration form.
View a patient's details from Patient Detail > Edit Details, or from Patient Detail > Patient admin > Edit details
Edit a patient's details and save your changes
Admit or attend a patient
Discharge or depart a patient
Generate and send letters
Start an appointment, or record that a patient arrived for their appointment
Send messages by e-RS Electronic Referral Service. Used by GPs/patients to book initial appointments with specialists at a convenient time. This would replace the current system where a referral is made to the specialist who then sends out a letter with an appointment – if the patient can’t attend that appointment they’ll have to call back and rearrange.
Receive a referral, appointment, or advice and guidance request from e-RS
Retrieve a patient's record from GP Connect

Nervecentre also performs automatic checks overnight, for example, to check for deceased patients.

If Nervecentre finds differences between a patient's local record and their record on PDS, you can choose the information you want to keep, or decouple the patient's local record from PDS.