postcode - NHS England Digital

Overview

The postcode is a CodeSystem held on the NHS England Terminology Server (ODS Instance) which holds a variety of geographic boundaries for each postcode within the NHS Postcode Directory.

It is subject to change regularly, therefore we suggest that you retrieve the latest version via the API.

This API forms part of the strategic products provided by ODS and is intended to replace our two existing APIs.

CodeSystem usage

You can retrieve reference CodeSystems in full, as they are small enough to be returned in a single query.

Larger CodeSystems which generally contain instance data cannot be retrieved in full due to their size.

You can also search or validate individual concepts; codes stored within the CodeSystem.

Refer to our OAS specification for more information.

CodeSystem properties

Property code	Property description
CA	Postcodes that form a Cancer Alliance geographic boundary.
EW	Postcodes that form an Electoral Ward geographic boundary
GOR	Postcodes that form a Government Office Region geographic boundary
ICB	Postcodes that form an Integrated Care Board geographic boundary
LA	Postcodes that form a Local Authority geographic boundary
LSOA11	Postcodes that form a Lower Super Output Area geographic boundary
NHSER	Postcodes that form an NHS England Region geographic boundary
PC	Postcodes that form a Parliamentary Constituency geographic boundary
PCO	Postcodes that form a Primary Care Organisation geographic boundary
SMHPC AED	Postcodes that form a Strategic Mental Health Provider Collaborative - Adult Eating Disorder geographic boundary
SMHPC AS	Postcodes that form a Strategic Mental Health Provider Collaborative - Adult Secure geographic boundary
SMHPC CT4	Postcodes that form a Strategic Mental Health Provider Collaborative - CYPMH Tier 4 geographic boundary

Other CodeSystems available

The CodeSystem names in the tables below are case sensitive.

Resolvable CodeSystems

The following CodeSystems are resolvable.

CodeSystem	System URL
ODSRecordClass	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/ODSRecordClass
ODSOrganisationRole	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/ODSOrganisationRole
ODSRelationship	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/ODSRelationship
practitioner-role	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/practitioner-role
organization-role-instance	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/organization-role-instance
organization-relationship-instance	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/organization-relationship-instance
succession	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/succession
postcode	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/postcode
geography-name	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/geography-name
practitioner	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/practitioner
practitioner-relationship-instance	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/practitioner-relationship-instance
practitioner-additional-attribute	https://digital.nhs.uk/services/organisation-data-service/CodeSystem/practitioner-additional-attribute

Non-resolvable CodeSystems

The following CodeSystems are non-resolvable.

If you try and navigate to the System URL the browser will display an error. For more details about these CodeSystems refer to our Simplifier pages.

CodeSystem	System URL
ods-organization-code	https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/ods-organization-code
England-ODSDateTime	https://fhir.nhs.uk/England/CodeSystem/England-ODSDateTime
England-ODSRecordUseType	https://fhir.nhs.uk/England/CodeSystem/England-ODSRecordUseType
England-PeriodType	https://fhir.nhs.uk/England/CodeSystem/England-PeriodType

Companion product

We have also produced a user interface that allows access to the same information through our companion product: ODS Data Search and Export.

Further information

For more specific information about the data refer to our Reference Data Catalogue.

Additional CodeSystems are referenced by the Implementation Guidance, and these can be found on our Simplifier pages.