Secondary Uses Service what's new

Unintended Consequence of Moving the Inclusion Date

22 September 2022

On ingestion of an APC CDS record SUS+ updates the properties of the spell it is part of. If that spell is considered complete at that point the inclusion date a spell should be output in the Post-Reconciliation (freeze) reports is added to the record.
The inclusion date was changed last week to accommodate the bank holiday granted for the funeral of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Last Thursday’s SUS+ release implemented the required code change.
Any July APC activity submitted before Thursday at approximately 1800 was stamped with the original inclusion date time of 202209191630 (the system clock is on GMT). July APC activity to close a spell that was submitted after 1800 on Thursday was stamped 202209201630. This latter activity was included in Post-Reconciliation APC snapshot extracts.
We are not able to re-run the inclusion process for September 2022.

July 2022 Post REC APC extracts will not have complete counts for the following extract types

apc_ep_multibirth_tail_full

apc_ep_ward_stay_full_online

critical_care_full_online

pbr_apc_episodes_bundle

pbr_apc_spells_bundle

Activity extracted for all other reports and activity types is not affected (ECDS and OP). Users can extract the latest position for July APC data in a ‘PbR Current’ extract.
SUS+ apologises for the inconvenience this has caused. We are now better informed in the unlikely event we need to change inclusion dates in the future.

SUS+ DSCRO extract performance

21 September 2022

Since the migration to Cloud on 03/09/2022, SUS+ has been experiencing a performance issue with DSCRO extracts that run heavy with secondary indexes.

This issue was not resolved before this month’s inclusion and so all DSCRO extracts stacked on inclusion and after are running slow on SUS+.

Due to the inclusion day moving from 19/09/2022 to 20/09/2022, SUS+ all extract delivery SLA is now 8am on 26/09/2022 (3 whole working days).

We apologise for the inconvenience, and we will resolve the issue as soon as possible.

2022/23 Updated Revised Final Tariff deployed in SUS+

20 September 2022

A further set of revised prices was published on 5 August 2022, this was deployed to SUS+ on 15 September 2022.

This follows an earlier revision published on 7 June 2022.  In line with the intention of the pricing team at NHS England, SUS+ will apply both sets of revised prices:

• 7 June 2022 revision used for activity 1 April 2022 to 31 August 2022
• 5 August 2022 revision used for activity from 1 September 2022 onwards

Users can override this via the Advanced option in the SUS+ portal where the latest set of prices can be applied to the whole 22/23 financial year, or any selected period of activity.

SUS+ September 2022 Inclusion

12 September 2022

With the Bank Holiday for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II being on Monday 19 September 2022, the September 2022 Inclusion has been moved in SUS+ to Tuesday 20 September 2022.

PbR Scheduled extracts and reports will now be triggered on and after 20 September 2022 at 5.30pm. 

SUS+ Cloud migration update

6 September 2022

We have uncovered a performance issue with DSCRO extracts that have a wide range of Reasons For Access (RFA). 

All interchanges, provider extracts, national extracts and DSCRO short range RFA extracts are running as expected.

We will look to resolve the performance issue as soon as possible but we ask all DSCROs to not run wide range RFA extracts on the SUS+ Portal until we resolve the issue.

Any wide range RFA extracts run yesterday that have not completed, will be re-run by SUS+ when the issue is resolved.

SUS+ Cloud migration

5 September 2022

SUS+ successfully migrated to the Cloud over the weekend of 3 September 2022, but we are working through a few performance issues with RIAK.

Please can you limit your use of the SUS+ portal until we resolve these few issues.

We will issue an updated position by end of today.

SUS+ Cloud migration

18 August 2022

SUS+ will aim to migrate to the Cloud on 2 September 2022 which will mean a service outage from 6pm on 2 September 2022 until 8am on 4 September 2022.

To reduce the risk of the Cloud migration we have initiated a SUS+/DLP change freeze from 11 August 2022 until 7 September 2022. This means the next scheduled SUS+ release will be Wednesday 7 September 2022.

We apologise for any inconvenience. 

Access to SUS+ portal

12 August 2022

Access to the SUS+ Portal is only allowed for providers (their own data) and Data Services for Commissioners Regional Offices (DSCROs).

The following organisations are not allowed access to the SUS+ portal, as they are not allowed to handle clear SUS+ data:

• CCGs
• CSUs
• sub-ICBs
• ICBs

CDS6.2.2 unsupported by SUS+ for December 2022

11 August 2022

With the widescale implementation of ECDS version 3, NHS England has taken the decision to retire the oldest ECDS schema, CDS6.2.2. This means that CDS6.2.2 will no longer be supported by SUS+ as of the 1 December 2022. Therefore, all providers who currently submit ECDS using this schema will need to move to the latest one, CDS6.2.3, prior to December 2022.

Any providers currently using CDS6.2.2 that will be unable be to move to the current CDS6.2.3 schema by December, must contact their respective Data Liaison Managers for support in the first instance or contact the national ECDS team directly on nhsi.ecds@nhs.net. 

New IP address ranges for SUS+ may need changes to local firewall settings – final update

4 August 2022

Further to our notices of 16 June and 18 July below, all users should by now have tested connectivity for the new IP ranges and made changes to their organisation firewall if these were required.

This action is essential for continued access to SUS+ Online and DLP after cloud go-live.

Thank you to those of you who have already complied.

SNOMED CT Data Items and CDS 6.3.1

4 August 2022

NHS Digital does not yet hold a list of legally restricted SNOMED CT codes for use with CDS 6.3.1 data items. SUS+ requests that users who acquire the capability to send CDS 6.3.1 interchanges do not include SNOMED CT items until such a list is compiled and published. We do not have a date when this will be available and will post again here when the situation changes.

ECDS SDEC follow-up survey

1 August 2022

ECDS SDEC Follow up survey is available via the link below, survey closes on 8 August 2022.

Consultation on SDEC in ECDS - Follow Up Questions - NHS Digital - Citizen Space

CDS6.3.1 schema live in SUS+

28 July 2022

As part of last night's SUS+ release, the CDS6.3.1 schema was made live in the system.

2022/23 Revised Final Tariff deployed in SUS+

18 July 2022

The revised final tariff prices for 2022/23 issued on 7 June 2022 were included in the SUS+ release of 13 July 2022.

These will be applied to all data with activity dates from 1 April onwards submitted after their implementation in live.

2022/23 revised final tariff reference data is available on the SUS+ PbR Guidance web page.

New IP address ranges for SUS+ may need changes to local firewall settings - update

18 July 2022

Migrating SUS+ to a cloud platform means a new range of IP addresses will be used to permit access to the SUS+ extract portal and to the Data Landing Portal.  Users may need to change the settings of their local firewall to allow communication with these cloud-based services. 

Existing IP addresses recognised by local firewalls will remain in place until SUS+ has moved to the new platform and should remain active. 

Both sets of addresses can co-exist and acting on this notice will allow users to seamlessly transfer from the current infrastructure to its cloud-based replacement.

The new IP ranges to allow are:

VPCSubHSCNDmzA = "155.231.64.0/27" # HSCN DMZ Primary Subnet A

VPCSubHSCNDmzB = "155.231.64.32/27" # HSCN DMZ Secondary Subnet B

The local firewall allows communication without further work if users can either

• successfully ping any of these IP addresses from HSCN or AWS VPN
  • ALI:    155.231.64.57         155.231.64.30
  • DLP:   155.231.64.28         155.231.64.51

Or

• reach this page (possibly with an extension missing type error)
  • https://test-sus-access.national.ncrs.nhs.uk

All sites should complete this local configuration change by 1 August 2022.

Users wishing to participate in testing the cloud-based portals should have already made these changes.  A test schedule will be issued

Thank you to those users who have offered their help with testing.  Please contact sm.celleight@nhs.net if you have any further questions.

ECDS v4.0 Provider and IT Supplier Consultation Survey

5 July 2022

We have now published a consultation survey to gather your feedback on the proposed changes in ECDS v4.0.

A printable copy of the survey will be available on the forum. This is to enable you to cascade the survey questions through the relevant areas of your organisation, so that colleagues can provide input into your organisation’s response.

We only require one response per organisation and responses should only be submitted via this online survey.

Your response will be greatly appreciated.

If you have any further queries, please contact enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk FAO Dataset Development Team.

SUS+ ECDS SNOMED code lists

29 June 2022

As part of last night's SUS+ release, the ECDS SNOMED approved and mapped code lists were updated in the system. 

ECDS SNOMED approved code list

ECDS SNOMED mapped code list

Guidance Approved to Continue Sending sub-ICB Location Code as Code of Commissioner

27 June 2022

As part of the Health and Care Act 2022 reforms CCGs will no longer be legal entities from 1 July 2022.  The Finance and Digital Boundary Changes Task and Finish Group has endorsed the continued use of CCG codes, as these will represent sub-ICB locations, in the CDS item Code of Commissioner.  With further changes to organisation codes a prospect in the near future, this is regarded as a pragmatic change until commissioning responsibilities have settled under the Act.  This is an extract from the linked paper, approved on 22 June 2022, and has further context:

• the choice is between Code of Commissioner based on ICB or sub-ICB location
• whilst commissioning responsibility rests with the ICB and therefore - as currently worded in the Data Dictionary - providers should submit the ICB code in the Code of Commissioner field, a switch to ICB code would be more difficult for providers to implement than sub-ICB location as the latter represents a smaller step from CCG
• it will be possible for users to aggregate up from sub-ICB location to ICB using the many-to-one mapping
• it will also be possible to derive sub-ICB location and ICB from the GP practice and postcode information that providers return; and any discrepancies with the submitted Code of Commissioner identified and explored
• providers should therefore be asked to submit the sub-ICB location code in the Code of Commissioner field from 1July 2022

New IP address ranges for SUS+ may need changes to local firewall settings

16 June 2022

Migrating SUS+ to a cloud platform means a new range of IP addresses will be used to permit access to the SUS+ extract portal and to the Data Landing Portal.  Users may need to change the settings of their local firewall to allow communication with these cloud-based services. 

Existing IP addresses recognised by local firewalls will remain in place until SUS+ has moved to the new platform and should remain active. 

Both sets of addresses can co-exist and acting on this notice will allow users to seamlessly transfer from the current infrastructure to its cloud-based replacement.

The new IP ranges to allow are:

VPCSubHSCNDmzA = "155.231.64.0/27" # HSCN DMZ Primary Subnet A

VPCSubHSCNDmzB = "155.231.64.32/27" # HSCN DMZ Secondary Subnet B

Successfully pinging any one of the addresses in the range will show that the local firewall allows communication without further work.

All sites should complete this local configuration change by 1 August 2022. Request is to ping the about IP addresses just to test.

Users wishing to participate in testing the cloud-based portals will need to make these changes by 1 July 2022.

Thank you to those users who have offered their help with testing.  New volunteers for testing are requested to contact sm.celleight@nhs.net

CDS v6.3 XML schema

15 June 2022

An issue has been identified with the CDS v6.3 XML schema (v6.3.0).

In CDS Types 150 and 160 the Birth Episode structure is incorrectly specified as mandatory in the schema, despite all the data items within this structure being required or optional.

As a result, submissions using the v6.3.0 schema would be rejected unless the Birth Episode structure is included.

A new CDS v6.3 schema (v6.3.1) will be issued shortly which corrects this issue. No other amendments (other than changes to reflect the updated version numbering) are expected to be made.

In the meantime, we would recommend that development work using v6.3.0 of the XML schema should proceed with caution and should take into account the above issue. Once v6.3.1 is issued, v6.3.0 will be removed from TRUD and should no longer be used. A further communication will be issued to confirm this.

SUS+ ECDS SNOMED code lists

31 May 2022

As part of last night's SUS+ release, the ECDS SNOMED approved and mapped code lists were updated in the system. 

ECDS SNOMED approved code list

ECDS SNOMED mapped code list

2022/23 Final Tariff and Grouper deployed in SUS+

21 April 2022

Final tariff prices and groupers for 2022/23 were included in the SUS+ release of 13 April.

These will be applied to all data with activity dates from 1 April onwards submitted after their implementation in live.

2022/23 final tariff reference data is available on the SUS+ PbR Guidance web page.

CDS 6.3 schema

19 April 2022

An updated version of the CDS v6.3 XML schema (v6.3.0) has recently been released, and is available from the TRUD website.

The updated schema includes some minor corrections to amend field lengths from ‘n3’ to ‘max an3’ for various ‘SUPPORT DAYS’ data items. Minor changes have also been made to update the schema name of the SPECIALISED SERVICE CODE data item, update the CARE PROFESSIONAL MAIN SPECIALTY CODE data item from mandatory to required, and add a placeholder data item (EMED3 FIT NOTE ISSUER), in preparation for the CDS v6.3 corrigendum that will be released in the near future.

The new v6.3.0 schema replaces the previously issued v6.3 schema, which has been removed from TRUD, and submissions of CDS v6.3 should be made using the new v6.3.0 schema.

SUS+ ECDS SNOMED code lists

31 March 2022

As part of last night's SUS+ release, the ECDS SNOMED approved and mapped code lists were updated in the system. 

ECDS SNOMED approved code list

ECDS SNOMED mapped code list

SUS+ DLP Python Upgrade Release

21 March 2022

SUS+ has been working to remediate technical debt accrued by using out of date versions of the Python programming language. It is a phased approach and updating the Data Landing Portal is the first stage of the wider project.

This work extends the usability of SUS+ by ensuring the version of Python it runs will continue to be supported in future years.

We are pleased to announce that work on DLP is now complete, and the code will be released into live this week – most likely on the evening of Wednesday 23 March 2022.

We have tested extensively and do not anticipate users will notice any difference in the appearance or performance of DLP. This note is to ask that if you notice anything you did not expect please raise a call with the National Service Desk (NSD).

SUS+ ECDS extract issue

10 March 2022

As part of the preparation work for CDS6.3, an unforeseen error has occurred in the ECDS supplementary extract.
Currently all SUS+ ECDS extracts are not populating the column “Sequence Number” in the repeating group “Emergency Care Procedure (SNOMED CT)”.
SUS+ has a code fix being tested now but due to inclusion next week, the code fix will not be deployed until 8pm on Wednesday 23/03/2022.

We apologise for the inconvenience.

CDS6.2.1 unsupported by SUS+ for April 2022

4 March 2022

With the widescale implementation of ECDS version 3, NHS England has taken the decision to retire the oldest ECDS schema, CDS6.2.1. This means that CDS6.2.1 will no longer be supported by SUS+ as of the 1 April 2022. Therefore, all providers who currently submit ECDS using this schema will need to move to the latest one, CDS6.2.3, prior to April 2022.

Any providers currently using CDS6.2.1 that will be unable be to move to the current CDS6.2.3 schema by April, must contact their respective Data Liaison Managers for support in the first instance or contact the national ECDS team directly on nhsi.ecds@nhs.net. 

ECDS SNOMED approved list updated

3 March 2022

As part of last night's SUS+ weekly release, the ECDS SNOMED approved list was updated in SUS+.

SNOMED Diagnosis code 700372006, valid to date of 2022-03-31 was removed.

ECDS SNOMED approved list

ECDS SNOMED mapped list

2022/23 Consultation Tariff and Grouper deployed in SUS+

11 February 2022

Consultation tariff prices and the Consultation grouper for 22/23 were included in last night’s SUS+ release. 

Portal users can now choose these options when running extracts.

22/23 Consultation tariff reference data is available on the SUS+ PbR Guidance web page.

CDS v6.3 online state of readiness questionnaire

7 February 2022

The CDS v6.3 state of readiness questionnaire is now open for responses from care providers, system suppliers and middleware suppliers, and closes on 28 February 2022.

For more information, please visit https://nhs-digital.citizenspace.com/data-set-development-service/69b041ac.

NHS England Organisation code guidance

17 January 2022

NHS England organisation and site code guidance to support the NHS England commissioning of independent sector provider resource now available.

This guidance is valid with immediate effect.

View our pre-2022 news archive

Please report any service issues to the NHS Digital National Service Desk (NSD) via the NSD weblog tool (log in required), or call 0300 303 5035.

Find important SUS service announcements, information on planned outages and known issues.

The latest monthly trust reports are available on the Operational Support page.