The Organisation Data Service is provided by NHS Connecting for Health. It is responsible for the publication of all ORGANISATION and practitioner codes and for the national policy and standards with regard to the majority of ORGANISATION CODES. These code standards form part of the NHS data standards. NHS Connecting for Health is also responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Organisation Data Service and for its overall development. It is supported by a number of agencies throughout the UK; for instance, the NHS Prescription Services and the NHS Dental Services.
The Organisation Data Service is also responsible for the ongoing maintenance of and practitioner information on to the ORGANISATION and PERSON nodes of the Spine Directory Service, the central repository of data for use within the various systems and services maintained and provided by NHS Connecting for Health.
The products the Organisation Data Service maintain includes:
- the authoritative national lists for a wide range of NHS ORGANISATIONS and medical practitioners of interest to the NHS;
- the allocation of the NHS standard identification codes for these ORGANISATIONS and practitioners;
- a change history record for these ORGANISATIONS and certain of these practitioners;
- additional reference data about each of the ORGANISATIONS and practitioners;
- details of the relationships between these ORGANISATIONS and practitioners;
- details of the GEOGRAPHIC AREAS covered by some of these ORGANISATIONS, defined in terms of POSTCODES;
- all ORGANISATION and Health CARE PROFESSIONAL codes on the Spine Directory Service.
The Organisation Data Service distributes:
a set of files mostly in standard formats, holding national reference data of ORGANISATIONS , practitioners and POSTCODES for use in NHS administrative functions: especially in processing central returns, PATIENT administration, commissioning and message handling. These are published on the NHSnet on a monthly basis (http://nww.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/ods/). They are also made available to named recipients both inside the NHS and to others licensed to use this data in support of the NHS, through the online Technology Reference Data Update Distribution Service (TRUD). A subset of the data is also published on the NHS Choices website.
a Microsoft Access database containing frequently used data and a number of pre-defined enquiries. The database is available for download from the NHSnet and from Technology Reference Data Update Distribution Service (TRUD) and is updated monthly.
a document distributed with each quarterly data issue through both the NHSnet pages and the Technology Reference Data Update Distribution Service (TRUD), describing developments and issues related to the Organisation Data Service.
a directory distributed with each monthly data issue through both the NHSnet pages and the Technology Reference Data Update Distribution Service (TRUD), that lists all the Safe Haven contacts and addresses set up to receive and hold confidential PATIENT data in the NHS, updated monthly.
the Office for National Statistics supplies files containing all POSTCODES in the UK with details of their GEOGRAPHIC AREA information, such as map reference, Local Authority and Strategic Health Authority. The Organisation Data Service makes these files available on a quarterly basis from the NHSnet and Technology Reference Data Update Distribution Service (TRUD).
The Organisation Data Service provides:
- Central allocation of new or revised codes;
- Help, advice and query resolution on the content and use of the national reference data;
- Development of the NHS standards in this area;
- Further development of the range of national reference data.
This supporting information is also known by these names:
| Context | Alias |
|---|---|
| formerly | National Administrative Codes Service |
| shortname | ODS |