Version: 1.0.0 | Published: 3 Sep 2026 | Updated: 0 days ago
Summary
Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
Primary Care Procedure Requests records investigations, tests, and procedures ordered in primary care.
Primary Care Procedure Requests provide a crucial view of how investigations and diagnostics are initiated and this is essential for improving early detection, monitoring, safety, and equity in primary care.
The data set includes:
1. Requested procedure or investigation, for example:
- Blood tests (e.g., HbA1c, lipids, renal function)
- Imaging (X ray, ultrasound, CT, MRI)
- Diagnostic procedures (ECG, spirometry, ambulatory BP)
- Screening tests (e.g., cervical cytology)
- Referrals for community diagnostic services
Recorded using SNOMED/dm+d codes.
2. Clinical details linked to the request
- Reason for request (if coded)
- Linked diagnosis or problem
- Relevant observations (e.g., symptoms, vital signs)
- Priority/urgency (routine, urgent, 2WW where applicable)
3. Metadata including Request date/time, Ordering clinician, Practice and organisation identifiers, Status (requested, completed, cancelled), Whether the request was generated via a template or protocol.
4. Workflow and follow up indicators such as Expected review date, Flags for monitoring (e.g., repeat blood tests for chronic disease), Links to results when returned.
What Procedure Requests excludes:
- They do not confirm that the test/procedure was completed (results are separate).
- They do not include hospital initiated tests unless entered manually.
- They do not include medication orders or prescriptions.
- They do not include administrative tasks unless coded as a request.
Researchers would find the below most important or relevant when using Primary Care Procedure Requests:
1. Diagnostic pathways and early detection
Procedure requests reveal:
- How quickly tests are ordered after symptoms appear
- Delays in diagnostic pathways
- Variation in investigation patterns between clinicians or practices
This is crucial for cancer, cardiovascular, and metabolic disease research.
2. Monitoring of long term conditions
Requests show:
- Frequency of monitoring (e.g., HbA1c for diabetes, U&E for ACE inhibitors)
- Missed or delayed monitoring
- Variation in adherence to clinical guidelines
3. Safety and quality of care
Researchers can identify:
- High risk patients missing essential tests
- Incomplete follow up after abnormal results
- Over or under use of investigations
4. Inequalities in access to diagnostics
Linked demographics allow analysis of:
- Variation in test ordering by ethnicity, age, deprivation
- Differences in access to imaging or specialist diagnostics
- Disparities in chronic disease monitoring
5. Workforce and workflow optimisation
Procedure requests help researchers understand:
- Which clinicians order which tests
- How multidisciplinary teams influence diagnostic activity
- Bottlenecks in test ordering and follow up
6. Linking across datasets
Procedure requests can be linked to Observations (results), Appointments (encounter context), Medication Orders (treatment decisions), Hospital datasets (SUS).
This enables full pathway research from symptom → request → result → treatment → outcome.
Using Primary Care Procedure Requests, researchers can:
- Improve early diagnosis by analysing delays and variation in test ordering
- Strengthen chronic disease management through monitoring patterns
- Reduce inequalities by identifying gaps in access to diagnostics
- Enhance patient safety by detecting missed follow ups
- Support personalised care with detailed diagnostic histories
In Pipeline:
Available
Coverage
Spatial:
- United Kingdom
- England
- London
Typical Age Range Min:
0
Typical Age Range Max:
150
Material Type:
None/not available
Follow Up:
> 10 Years
Pathway:
This dataset contains all Primary Care Procedure Requests for London patients.
Each patient will be identified using an unique patient key, this can be used to
link to other London SDE datasets that will help track the patient pathway.
Provenance
Origin
Purpose:
- Administrative
- Care
- Other
Dataset Type:
- Health and disease
- Treatments/Interventions
Dataset Sub-Type:
- Others
- Others
Source:
EPR
Collection Source:
Primary care - Clinic
Image Contrast:
No
Temporal
Publishing Frequency:
Monthly
Distribution Release Date:
01 September 2026
Start Date:
01 April 2000
Time Lag:
1-2 weeks
Accessibility
Access
Access Rights:
London Secure Data Environment Enquiry Form
Access Service Category:
TRE/SDE
Access Service:
Researchers will have access to a secure workspace via an airlocked Azure
Virtual Desktop with a specific username and password, MFA (multi-factor
authentication) and OAUTH (open authentication). Researchers will get specific
access to a relevant subset of the datasets that are present in the SDE
catalogue for their project and will be able to carry out their research within
the safe haven. There are restrictions applied which prevent the researchers
from taking data out of the safe haven. Once the research is completed the
London SDE admin team will need to be contacted for any requests to egress
summary analysis out of the safe haven which will not breach secure data
environment disclosure control standards.
Access Request Cost:
Access costs will be determined on a project-by-project basis and will depend on
the specific data requirements, platform setup, and any additional services
needed to deliver the project successfully.
Delivery Lead Time:
1-2 months
Data Controller:
Participating London health care organisations act as Joint Data Controllers
within the London SDE. These organisations include for example GP Practices and
Acute Providers from across London.
Data Processor:
The data processor for the London Secure Data Environment (SDE) is primarily
managed by OneLondon, a partnership of London's five integrated care systems
(ICSs) and three health innovation networks. NHS North East London ICB hosts
OneLondon and operates the London Data Service (LDS) as a data processor on
behalf of those organisations, whilst Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
hosts the London Analytics Platform (LAP), with Imperial NHS Trust acting as the
data processor for data processing activities undertaken within the platform.
Jurisdiction:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Usage
Data Use Limitation:
No restriction
Data Use Requirements:
- Collaboration required
- Institution-specific restrictions
- Project-specific restrictions
- Time limit on use
- User-specific restriction
Resource Creator:
London SDE
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Scheme:
- NHS NATIONAL CODES
- LOCAL
- SNOMED CT
Conforms To:
- NHS DATA DICTIONARY
- LOCAL
Language:
English
Format:
Text
Enrichment and Linkage
Investigations:
Linkable Datasets
PID
Title
URL
Each patient will be identified by an unique patient key that can be used to link to all other datasets available within London SDE Platform
Observations
Statistical Population
Population Description
Population Size
Measured Property
Observation Date
Events
143514504
Count
02 September 2026
Persons
Distinct Patient Count
9626798
Count
02 September 2026
Origin
Name:
London SDE