Interoperability and savings are key goals for local government. The Open Referral UK (ORUK) team recently presented at LocalGov Drupal Week to show how easily councils can achieve both by integrating the ORUK API directly into their LocalGov Drupal websites.

We shared how LocalGov Drupal supports the adoption of ORUK and outlined the clear advantages for implementing the standard,followed by a productive open discussion with attendees.

Powering LocalGov Drupal website service directories with ORUK

LocalGov Drupal is now used by 63 councils, and includes modules that support:

• publishing an ORUK API-compliant feed – this makes your directory information accessible and reusable by partners (like the NHS or neighbouring councils) without duplicating development work
• consuming an ORUK feed – by surfacing data from an external ORUK feed, you can directly show the local support available within your LocalGov Drupal website (from councils, NHS, and voluntary sector), providing users and frontline staff the complete view

In the session, we explored the community’s interest in using existing features, improving them and possible ways to develop tools to help process ORUK data feeds – for example, for data syndication or data completeness checking.

One attendee shared: “I’ve been trying to get my head around this for a while. This helped me to understand it.”

By deploying ORUK via LocalGov Drupal, you are joining a growing active community that shares code, reduces risk, and cuts down on duplication across the sector. If you’re ready to explore this more, email [email protected] or check out the Integrating Open Referral UK with LocalGov Drupal thread on the ORUK forum.

If you missed the event, you can watch a recording of the session.

Understanding the technical foundation

The specification that underpins ORUK is crucial for its success. Open Referral UK is a ‘profile’ of the full international Open Referral standard, as defined by the Human Services Data Specification (HSDS).

In a helpful introductory session, Matt Marshall (Open Data Services) and Greg Bloom (Open Referral) walked through the HSDS  covering:

• what they’re for
• what they consist of
• how they are used
• how they can be adapted to meet specific needs

In the session, Matt describes the HSDS data model that underpins the Open Referral standard and explains how the standard defines API endpoints for data interchange. He also detailed the process for defining profiles of the full standard, which is the technique used to define Open Referral UK as a subset of the main international standard.

If you’re interested in learning more, watch a recording of their Introduction to the Human Service Data Specifications – an Open Referral Orientation.

Find out more and get involved

If you’re already using the ORUK standard but are not listed on our verified feed directory, please register your feed so we can showcase your work.

For further updates and to connect with the community:

• visit the ORUK website to explore resources and learn more
• subscribe to the ORUK mailing list for news and updates 
• subscribe to the Local Digital newsletter
• subscribe to the MHCLG Digital blog