Date/time formats in Appointments

[jonnyry]

• The following elements are in UK local time in the format yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss+hh:mm using timezone offset +00:00 for UTC and +01:00 for BST:

  • Slot.start
  • Slot.end
  • Schedule.planningHorizon.start
  • Schedule.planningHorizon.end
  • Appointment.start
  • Appointment.end
  • Appointment.created

  (it looks like the Demonstrator is currently sending +00:00 for dates in BST)

• Search for free slots start and end parameters can either be:

  • dates in the format yyyy-mm-dd
  • dateTimes in the format yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss+hh:mm in UK local time with the timezone offset +00:00 for UTC and +01:00 for BST

• Suggest the following Search for free slots validation to prompt consumers to fix their systems (rejected with an error message):

  • Sending a search for free slots start or end parameter with an incorrect timezone, e.g. -02:00
  • Sending the wrong timezone for the time of year, e.g. +00:00 when it's actually BST
  • Sending no timezone
  • Sending a 'Z' in place of +00:00

  (Some of the above have already been seen in current systems)

• Suggest the following validation on Book, Amend, Cancel

  • the appointment start and end elements match exactly the slot start and end elements, including the timezone offset

• Retrieve a Patients Appointments search filters only supports dates. dateTimes are not supported.

  • Suggest throwing an error if dateTimes are sent

---

Release notes: https://gpconnect-1-2-3.netlify.com/overview_release_notes_1_2_3.html#clarify-date--time-component-use-in-appointments Spec ticket: https://github.com/nhsconnect/gpconnect/issues/646 Demonstrator ticket: https://github.com/nhsconnect/gpconnect-demonstrator/issues/218 Provider test suite ticket: https://github.com/nhsconnect/gpconnect-provider-testing/issues/223

[SimonFarrowNHS]

Appointment search validation already behaves as requested