Written by Paul Brown | Last updated 21.06.2025 | 3 minute read
Integration with established Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems is increasingly important for digital health innovators and public health organisations. Increasingly GP records contain the fullest and most up to date single view of a patient, encapsulating consultations, observations, test results, referrals, discharge events, appointments, and more.
A significant EHR system in England is SystmOne. SystmOne is used in almost half of all GP Practices in England and holds a comprehensive clinical record for each associated patient. At 6B, we specialise in assisting digital health innovators and public health organisations to navigate the complexities of integrating with SystmOne, ensuring they can leverage this robust data source effectively.
In our latest post we take a brief look at the various SystmOne integration paths and some of the common SystmOne integration requirements we come across.
Patient data in SystmOne can be accessed through the IM1 Client Integration API. The PatientSearch function enables external applications to locate patients within an organisation’s patient list. This function is highly flexible, allowing searches using various parameters such as date of birth, postcode, first name, surname, telephone number, and gender (with a minimum of two search criteria to be provided to initiate a search).
After locating a patient utilising PatientSearch, the GetPatientRecord function allows the retrieval of detailed patient records. This function can extract the entire record or a filtered subset based on specified criteria. Note that this function is throttled to once every 30 seconds, except for demographics-only or recent updates.
Posting patient data back to SystmOne is facilitated through the UpdatePatientRecord function of the IM1 Client Integration API. This function supports adding new content to patient records, encompassing both clinical and non-clinical information.
The UpdatePatientRecord function allows for comprehensive updates to patient records, ensuring that both clinical events and non-clinical appointments or tasks are accurately recorded.
Bulk data extraction from SystmOne is a crucial feature for organisations that require comprehensive data analysis and reporting. This is achieved through the IM1 Bulk SystmOne Strategic Reporting Extracts (Data Extracts API). Data can be extracted nightly, providing a daily incremental extract of patient data in CSV format.
To enable and receive data extracts, organisations must first configure their SystmOne environment which typically involves:
Once configured, SystmOne Strategic Reports automatically export CSV files to a specified location each night. The download process is managed by a ‘Gateway PC’ or a cloud server running SystmOne, ensuring data security and redundancy via a secure TCP channel. The extracted files can then be processed and transferred to another location for further analysis.
A common path to integrate with Systmone is via IM1, and integrating with IM1 involves several stages to implementation that can take several months. Below we have listed the key stages to IM1 integration conformance:
Find out more about the IM1 integration process on the NHS England website here: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/gp-it-futures-systems/im1-pairing-integration.
At 6B, we have extensive experience developing integrations with SystmOne, via IM1, via GP Connect, as well as other routes, and we provide comprehensive support for digital health innovators looking to integrate with SystmOne, from initial consultation to live deployment.
This post was just a very quick overview of SystmOne integration, if your team is considering SystmOne integration please contact 6B for assistance and leverage our expertise to implement your SystmOne integration quickly, securely, and compliantly.
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