Apply the answer to an information exchange
Start with the exchange your organisation needs to perform. A GP summary update, a laboratory result and a discharge handover have different information, recipients and triggers. Each worked example begins with a concrete scenario, explains the required digital action and then adds the national/legal detail.
Choose the scenario
| Your question | Open | What the example works through |
|---|---|---|
| What happens when the GP record changes or another care team needs a summary? | Summary records | Upload, retrieval and viewing; the information held; the national service and provider conditions. |
| What must happen after a blood test is ordered and a result is produced? | Blood tests and results | Request, result report, clinical receipt, patient access and a separate notifiable-result report. |
| What must a hospital communicate when care moves into the community? | Hospital discharge | Continuing-care recipients, the applicable message and digital route, timing and follow-up roles. |
| Who can decide or receive information for a child or someone who lacks capacity? | Capacity and representative authority at discharge | Care decisions, necessary disclosure and representative record access, assessed separately. |
| What must be shared if a child or adult may be at risk at any point in care? | Protection sharing | Protection referral, digital system use, any continuing-care handover and controlled access; police/education involvement. Hospital discharge is one worked setting. |
| What must be reported to help plan, fund or monitor services? | National service reports | Four selected national examples with sending/extraction/claim triggers, legal force and private-provider scope. |
Use the example at two depths
For boards and senior decision-makers, read the short answer and exchange steps. Identify the responsible service, the required outcome and any material unresolved authority. This helps frame the assurance the organisation needs.
For digital, clinical, information-governance and legal specialists, follow the exact requirement and source links. Check the applicable provider, service category, version, recipient, method, timing and exceptions against the organisation's actual arrangements.
The examples retain their assumptions and national boundaries. They explain how to apply the maintained law; they do not approve an unseen live flow. The legal-force guide, full catalogue and national comparison provide the next detail.
Protection concerns can arise at any point in care. Use the child/adult worked examples, then the protection detail and exact protection records. The examples use hospital discharge as one setting. A care handover and protection referral can both be required; they remain separate exchanges.