NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) API Integration

By embedding e-RS functionality directly into your application, 6B helps you enable secure communication between providers, empower clinical decision-making, and align with NHS standards for referrals and booking workflows.

What is NHS e-RS?

The NHS e-Referral Service (eRS) is a national digital platform that allows clinicians to electronically refer patients into specialist services and manage appointments in real time. e-RS enables secure referrals, document exchange, and two-way communication between referrers and providers, reducing the administrative burden of paper referrals and improving patient flow.

eRS is used across primary, secondary, and community care and provides features such as:

• Booking and referral management
• Advice and guidance messaging
• Directory of Services (DoS) integration
• Audit and reporting capabilities

By integrating with e-RS, healthcare services can deliver faster, more transparent, and more efficient care pathways.

Our NHS e-RS Integration Process

At 6B, we guide organisations through each phase of e-RS integration – from discovery and stakeholder engagement to development, assurance, and implementation.

In the early stages, we help your organisation assess feasibility and define integration goals. We work with commissioners to access e-RS usage data and develop a local understanding of referral behaviours. For clinical and administrative teams, we support the configuration of roles, responsibilities, and governance for using advice and guidance features.

During the planning and development phase, 6B designs integration points that align with NHS Digital’s e-RS API standards. We support technical activities like endpoint setup, authentication, and document management, while working with clinical stakeholders to shape advice and guidance workflows and define referral services.

We ensure services are listed correctly within the e-RS Directory of Services and test functionality in controlled environments before go-live. Post-implementation, we continue to provide technical and strategic support, including performance monitoring, updates, and training enablement.

Benefits of NHS e-RS Integration

Integrating your digital product with NHS e-RS allows for a more responsive, data-driven referral experience. Patients benefit from faster appointment booking and fewer delays in accessing specialist care.

For clinicians, integrated e-RS functionality reduces administrative workload, improves visibility into referral status, and enables direct advice and guidance exchanges. It also helps avoid unnecessary referrals by facilitating timely collaboration between GPs and specialists.

For commissioners and service leads, e-RS integration opens access to referral activity data – making it easier to track demand, analyse conversion rates, and drive service improvements. This creates more efficient referral pathways and ensures alignment with NHS strategic goals around digital-first care.