Changes to the Organisation Data Service (ODS) files

Overview

This consultation is now closed. Please see the Results section at the bottom of this page.

Comprehensive reference data for organisations that deliver health and social care has been maintained and published by a central service for the last twenty years. The data comprises authoritative national lists for a wide range of organisations of interest to the NHS, including a standard set of identification codes, a change history record, reference data to support NHS information systems and the relationships between the various organisations.

Over time, many aspects of the organisation data interface have become outdated or problematic in some way which has resulted in a number of long-standing issues: 

• The approach of using defined sets of codes for defined sets of organisations is no longer sustainable:
  • It was designed for human readability and is now stifling innovation
  • Blocks of codes become “locked off” and unavailable for use
  • We are rapidly approaching code exhaustion
• The current file specification is out-dated:
  • The file format is unable to support multiple relationships
  • There is no clear meta data to indicate organisation types and responsibilities
  • Suppliers are keyed in to an inflexible, flat file CSV format
• There is a lack of standardisation in format and frequency of publication:
  • Although a “standard 27 field format” exists the actual content of files varies considerably
  • Variance results in lengthy processing for full file set
  • Quarterly, Monthly and in some cases weekly releases are produced

Why your views matter

The issues outlined above have now become severe enough that ODS will have to redesign the service we provide in order to ensure its continuation. In redesigning the service we will:

• Replace structured codes with a true unique identifier with no in-built intelligence
• Enable the data model to reflect modern NHS and Social Care
• Modernise the delivery mechanism
• Enhance the usability of the data
• Publish data on a more regular basis
• Support data linkage initiatives

The proposed changes to the service will potentially impact every organisation that makes use of ODS files.

We are seeking the views of anyone who makes use of ODS files on the proposed changes. As the changes are many and complex we have provided a suite of documents, along with supporting information, to explain the proposals.

Rather than asking specific questions through a survey, we would invite anyone who is interested to view the documents from the ODS web pages (see link below) and then to complete the comments form provided.