Responsible Agencies

Organisation Data Service:

The Organisation Data Service is responsible for allocating codes to the following ORGANISATIONS in England and Wales:

• Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs)
• NHS Trusts
• Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)
• Care Trusts (CTs)
• Special Health Authorities (SpHAs)
• Independent Providers (Care Homes, private hospitals etc.)
• Pathology Laboratories
• Cancer Registries
• Other NHS Administration Units

Administrative codes are used to identify:

• Individual healthcare ORGANISATIONS including independent providers;
• Independent Sector Healthcare Providers;
• Dental and Medical Practices;
• Practitioners, such as GENERAL PRACTITIONERS, and Hospital CONSULTANTS;
• the identification of information returned to the Department of Health;
• the identification of the ORGANISATIONS involved in the electronic exchange of information within the NHS;
• the identification of the parties involved in the commissioning and administration of an episode of care.

The current coding standards were introduced in 1996 by the Organisation Codes Service (OCS), now the Organisation Data Service. Subsequent revisions to the structure and format of ORGANISATION CODES have given these codes a consistent and stable format. This both reflects the organisational changes in the NHS and protects the codes against future changes to the structure of the NHS.

Codes used in England and Wales to identify ORGANISATIONS in Scotland and Northern Ireland are allocated by agencies working on behalf of the Information Standards Division (Scotland) and the Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. These codes meet NHS coding standards and are included on the Organisation Data Service data set, issued quarterly to NHS users via the online distribution service, Terminology Reference Data Update Distribution Service (TRUD) and through the Organisation Data Service pages on NHSnet.

Code allocation by other agencies:

Several other UK agencies are responsible for issuing or publishing codes (to NHS standards) for the following healthcare ORGANISATIONS and CARE PROFESSIONALS and for maintaining their details. These details are made available in the Organisation Data Service data set, issued quarterly to NHS users via online distribution service, TRUD (Terminology Reference Data Update Distribution Service) and through the Organisation Data Service pages on the NHSnet.

• NHS Prescription Services:
  • GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS in England, Wales, Isle of Man and Channel Islands
  • GP Practices in England, Isle of Man and Channel Islands
  • Pharmacy and appliance dispensers in England, Isle of Man and Channel Islands
• NHS Dental Services:
  • GENERAL DENTAL PRACTITIONERS in England, Wales and Isle of Man
  • General Dental Practices in England, Wales and Isle of Man
• Health Solutions Wales (HSW):
  • Maintain GP Practice details by way of receiving notification from the British Safety Council of a new GP Practice and then generating an internal code and passing on to the NHS Prescription Services for allocation of the W (Welsh) GP Practice
• NHS in Scotland:
  • All healthcare ORGANISATIONS and practitioners in Scotland
• Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS), Northern Ireland:
  • All healthcare ORGANISATIONS and practitioners in Northern Ireland
• Office for National Statistics (ONS):
  • Responsible for the formal definition of the geographical area covered by each Primary Care Trust and Strategic Health Authority (England), in terms of their component postcodes.

Where treatment for a NHS PATIENT is sub-commissioned to a non-NHS UK provider healthcare ORGANISATION (independent provider and/or Independent Sector Healthcare Provider) but that non-NHS UK provider does not have an ORGANISATION CODE or sites registered with a responsible agency, the default value of 89999 should be used.

For the Organisation Data Service contact details, see Contact Details.

For codes and format see:

ORGANISATION CODE
ORGANISATION DEPARTMENT CODE
ORGANISATION SITE CODE
CONSULTANT CODE
DOCTOR INDEX NUMBER
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL REFERENCE NUMBER
GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTITIONER PPD CODE
GENERAL DENTAL COUNCIL REGISTRATION NUMBER
GENERAL DENTAL PRACTITIONER CODE
PRIVATE CONTROLLED DRUG PRESCRIBER CODE