TREATMENT FUNCTION, rather than the Royal College or Faculty specialty, is required on most activity returns and in the Commissioning Data Sets (CDS). It is based on specialty, but also includes approved sub-specialties and treatment specialties used by lead CARE PROFESSIONALS including hospital CONSULTANTS.

The appropriate TREATMENT FUNCTION CODE can be used by any lead CARE PROFESSIONAL eg Intermediate Care as the TREATMENT FUNCTION CODE for a Nursing Episode.

A full list of TREATMENT FUNCTION CODES (Table 2) follows the MAIN SPECIALTY CODES (Table 1).

MAIN SPECIALTY CODES are aligned with the specialties recognised in the General and Specialist Medical Practice (Education, Training and Qualifications) Order 2003 and European Primary and Specialist Dental Qualifications Regulations 1998. Pseudo codes should be used in Commissioning Data Set (CDS) messages for lead CARE PROFESSIONALS other than hospital CONSULTANTS eg Nursing Episode.

For further information, contact The NHS Information Centre for health and social care by email at: enquiries@ic.nhs.uk.

Table 1 Main Specialty codes

Table 2 Treatment Function codes

Notes:

• TREATMENT FUNCTION CODES should be used for all aggregate Central Returns unless otherwise stated eg National Workforce Data Set uses MAIN SPECIALTY CODES
• GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTITIONER, NURSE and Allied Health Professional/ Biomedical Scientist/ Clinical Scientist ACTIVITY should be recorded against the TREATMENT FUNCTION under which the PATIENT is treated
• Joint Consultant Clinic ACTIVITY should be recorded against the TREATMENT FUNCTION which best describes the specialised service