Upcoming code changes

The Health and Care Act 2022 completed the parliamentary process and received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. This was an important step on the journey towards establishing Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), moving them onto a statutory footing with the establishment of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs). This took place on 1 July 2022 as communicated in the NHS 2022/2023 priorities and operational planning guidance. 

Each ICS has an Integrated Care Board (ICB), a statutory organisation bringing the NHS together locally to improve population health and establish shared strategic priorities within the NHS. When ICBs were legally established, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were abolished.

NHS Digital worked closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) to explore how to apply the changes across digital systems and services, to ensure they would continue to run smoothly and support the wider health system through the transition phase.

Some changes to digital systems and services came into effect on 1 July 2022. These included changes to Organisational Data Service (ODS) data and NHSmail. 

This was to have been followed by a second phase of changes, which has now been put on hold for the foreseeable future.

The ODS codes previously used to identify the 42 existing ICSs (referred to within the ODS hierarchy as 'STPs') were retained, and these codes were applied to the 42 new ICBs as the new statutory bodies replacing CCGs.

At this point, the boundary changes decided in July 2021 also came into effect. This meant there were changes to the geographical coverage of some previous ICSs when ICBs were established.

The ODS codes previously used to identify the 106 existing CCGs were retained to identify the former CCG geographical areas (adjusted where necessary to reflect boundary changes). These geographical areas are now referred to as ‘sub ICB locations’. These sub ICB location codes will be used for operational purposes, for example to support the current functioning of the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS).

These change summary spreadsheets and presentations detail the changes further.

Name changes

ODS prepared 2 ‘forward view data files’. These files contained the name changes only, which came into effect 1 July 2022.

These data files were prepared as some teams requested them – enabling name changes to be consumed before the go live date of 1 July 2022, where necessary.

These files do not replace the standard ODS data products or the monthly .csv file release and were supplied as an addition to the standard data products for May and June to enable a smooth transition following user feedback.

The files were as follows:

• ‘eother_namechanges – contains the Integrated Care Board name changes (from STP to ICB)
• ‘eccg_namechanges – contains the Sub ICB Location name changes (from CCG to Sub ICB Location)

This information is, of course, already available in the ODS change summaries. The files have been created to enable easy consumption of the name changes data.

A zip file containing a forward-view, test version of the ONS supplied postcode files that incorporated the approved ICB boundary changes which came into effect on 1 July 2022 was made available on the ONS postcode files page.  

This file enabled you to consume the boundary changes before the go live date of 1 July 2022. The loading of this data into systems is done so at your own risk.

The following release dates were completed:

1 July 2022

ODS API at 2am

ODS Portal at 4.30am

ODS DataPoint at 6.30am

7 July 2022

CSV weekly file (published via TRUD) as part of the standard business as usual weekly prescribing related data release)

Filename: epraccur.csv

29 July 2022

CSV monthly amendments-only files (published on the monthly updates ODS web page)

Filenames: egpam.csv for GP Practices, eccgam.csv for Sub ICB Locations, and eotheram.csv for ICBs.

The changes impacted six CCG boundaries, eight system boundaries and four NHSE/I regional boundaries.

Bassetlaw CCG moved in its entirety, retaining its current boundaries, moving from the current South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw system to Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Health and Care system. This meant that the boundary of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Health and Care system expanded, and the boundary of the current South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw system reduced. The new ICB is NHS South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.

Part of the Glossop area, previously part of Tameside and Glossop CCG, moved into Derby and Derbyshire CCG. This meant that the boundary of the Joined Up Care Derbyshire system expanded, and the boundary of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care system reduced.

Part of the West Birmingham area, previously part of Black Country and West Birmingham CCG, moved into Birmingham and Solihull CCG. This meant that the boundary of the Birmingham and Solihull system expanded, and the boundary of the previous Black Country and West Birmingham system reduced. The new ICB is be NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board.

Part of the Oundle area, previously part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG, moved into Northamptonshire CCG. This meant that the boundary of the Northamptonshire system expanded, and the boundary of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough system reduced. Note that, as an exception to reflect specific local considerations, a single GP practice (Wansford and Kings Cliffe) was retained within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS.

The above changes meant that the NHSE/I Midlands region became bigger and the East of England, North West and North East and Yorkshire regions became smaller when the changes came into effect. 

If you have any further queries in relation to ODS codes, please contact the ODS helpdesk at [email protected].