Organisation Data Service - FHIR API

Use this API to access a reduced dataset of health and social care organisations in England and Wales, such as trusts or GP practices, using our Organisation Data Service (ODS). This FHIR API contains a reduced dataset, most useful for helping with transactions, while the ODS ORD API contains the full dataset from ODS.

You can search for information about an organisation using one or more of their:

• ODS code
• last updated date
• name
• active or inactive status
• postcode or city
• organisation's role or primary role, such as trusts or GP practices

You can also limit the number of results returned, or just request a count of the number of search results.

For more details, see the Introduction to FHIR® ODS Lookup API.

You cannot:

• access the full dataset from ODS

• search for an organisation with an address

An ODS code is a unique identification codes for an organisation that interact with any area of the NHS. This API returns the following reduced dataset of an organisation, when searched with an ODS code:

• organisation - ODS code, name, open date, close  date, last change date and status if active or inactive
• address - house or flat number, line 1, line 2, line 3, town, postcode and country
• contacts - email, website, telephone and fax
• roles - primary and non-primary roles

For an alternative API that returns full dataset, see Related APIs below.

This API can only be used to support the delivery of health and social care.

The following API also gives access to the Organisation Data Service:

• ODS Organisation Reference Data (ORD) API - use this API to access the full dataset from ODS. 

To choose which API best suits your needs, see the Benefits of the ODS API suite.

The following API is also related to this API:

• Spine Directory Service - FHIR API - use this API to access ASID information and messaging endpoint details in the Spine Directory Service (SDS) using our FHIR-conformant API.

This API is stable.

To see our roadmap, or to suggest, comment or vote on features for this API, see our interactive product backlog.

If you have any other queries, contact us.

This API is a bronze service, meaning it is available and supported only during business hours (8am to 6pm), Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays.

For more details, see service levels.

This API is RESTful.

It also conforms to the FHIR global standard for health care data exchange. Specifically, it is based on the HL7 FHIR STU3 Messaging Implementation.

You do not need to know much about FHIR to use this API - FHIR APIs are just RESTful APIs that follow specific rules. In particular:

• resource names are capitalised, singular and in American English, for example /Organization not /organisations

• array names are singular, for example line not lines for address lines

• data items that are country-specific and thus not included in the FHIR global base resources are usually wrapped in an extension object

There are libraries and SDKs available to help with FHIR API integration. 

This API is available on the internet and, indirectly, on the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN).

This API is open-access, which means:

• we do not authenticate or authorise the calling application
• we do not authenticate or authorise the end user - they might not even be present

We generally use open-access APIs for public data, where security is not a concern. Our open-access APIs are generally RESTful APIs. For more details on how to access them, see our open-access REST API tutorial.

For example:

https://uat.directory.spineservices.nhs.uk/STU3/Organization/RJY 

returns the reduced dataset for the organisation whose ODS code is RJY. 

Integration testing

You can use the UAT environment to perform your integration testing.

This API is open-access, and there is no onboarding process or assurance required.

The following table summarises the endpoints of this API.

For details on the general structure of the interactions, see FHIR.