Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS)

The Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS) is a secure data collection system used by health and social care organisations to submit data to NHS Digital.

Access the Strategic Data Collection Service

Most collections can be found here. Three exceptions are listed below under "Links to access SDCS".

We manage access to SDCS by granting individual users permissions to complete specific collections.

How to access SDCS

To access SDCS you must have:

the appropriate permissions for each data collection you want to submit data for (granted by NHS Digital)
a valid single sign-on account (SSO) account

1. Ask for SDCS access to submit data

We can only register 1 or 2 data submitters for each collection. How many we can register depends on the specific requirements of the collection.

To ask for access to SDCS to submit data, contact [email protected], and give them your:

name
personal work email address
phone number
name of organisation you work for
ODS code of organisation you work for
name of the collection or collections you need to submit data for

We can only grant permissions to your personal work email address.

use your personal work email address which includes your name, for example [email protected]

do not use a shared or team email address, for example [email protected]
do not use a personal private email address, for example [email protected]

I do not know the ODS code of my organisation

Find the ODS code of your organisation on the ODS portal

My organisation does not have an ODS code

An ODS code is needed to take part in any SDCS data collection.

Email [email protected] to request an ODS code request form.

2. Register for a single sign-on account

Visit https://login.hscic.gov.uk/Register.aspx to register for an account, if you do not already have one. Use the same personal email address that you used in your request.

SDCS guidance

Video guidance

The following video describes how to create a submission via SDCS.

Written guidance

The detailed written guidance below includes how to request another user is added or request that a user is removed from your organisation, accessing the web-based SDCS system, submitting data files, and viewing and downloading submitted data.

ARTICLE

Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS) for General Collections - external user guidance

The Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS) is a secure data collection system which accepts uploads of submissions in a variety of formats. This guidance document will help you register with SDCS and download and upload data securely.

3. Activate your account

When you have been given permissions for an SDCS collection, you will be sent an automated email invitation, including the link to SDCS for that collection.

You need to sign into the system within 30 days of getting the email to activate your account.

Links to access SDCS

The link to access SDCS for most data collections is: https://datacollection.sdcs.digital.nhs.uk/

Some data collections have a different URL, that is unique to that data collection. They are:

Social Care SDCS link: https://socialcare.sdcs.digital.nhs.uk/
KO41a SDCS link: https://complaints.sdcs.digital.nhs.uk/
SRHAD SDCS link: https://srhad.sdcs.digital.nhs.uk/

Visit our list of data collections to find out more about the data collections that we manage.

Contact us

If you need more help or have any questions, email [email protected].

Further information

Strategic Data Collection Service in the cloud (SDCS Cloud)

SDCS Cloud is the new way to submit data to NHS Digital.

Last edited: 29 September 2022 1:21 pm