Phase 1: Discovery

This is the initial phase, where an organisation considering a change understands the problem that needs to be solved, as well as technological, process and legal constraints. A thorough impact assessment must be carried out to identify all systems, services and reporting platforms using ODS codes.

This is also when projects decide whether to proceed to the next phase or not.

By the end of this phase, you will need to be clear how your organisation will be impacted and structured, and also have the changes endorsed by your authorising body.

During this phase we expect the changing organisation to take the following steps.

Inform ODS of the potential change and proposed dates. This should be at least 5 months before a planned legal change.

Understand:

• the impacts of ODS codes changing within your systems and any connected systems
• timescales needed for successful change
• business rules and recommendations
• tasks that you need to complete and when they need to be done
• tasks that ODS will complete to support the change
• governance procedures required before we can progress and update information

Decide:

• what site codes are needed by any new or acquiring organisation
• what system migration activity needs to be undertaken before and after the legal change

Obtain approval of the change by the end of the discovery phase.

ODS codes are unique identifiers assigned to health and social care organisations. The codes are often needed to access:

• national health IT systems
• platforms and services such as the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT), NHS.net Connect, and Health and Social Care Network (HSCN)

Statutory organisations - NHS trusts and local authorities require legally recognised Statutory Instruments (SIs) such as Grant of Acquisition (GOA) or Statutory Order to be approved before we can progress the change.

Non-statutory organisations – We require approval from a recognised authorising body for the organisation before we can implement the change.

Note: We require the above authorisation before we can move out of Discovery phase and into the Prepare for go-live phase.

We apply 2 sets of start and end dates to ODS codes:

Legal dates

These refer to the legal establishment and dissolution of an organisation.

The legal start date applied to new ODS codes for statutory organisations is the legal effective date published in the legislative documentation, for example, GoA or Grant of Management (GoM).

The legal start date applied to new ODS codes for independent sector health care providers and non-statutory organisations is the date documented and approved by the authorising body.

Operational dates

These refer to pre and post legal date, indicating a window of time that an organisation was undertaking preparatory or close-down activities.

Operational start dates allow organisations time to set up systems and services before the legal start date. Similarly, operational end dates allow organisations time to close systems and services after they legally dissolve.

Example

If the operational start and end dates for an organisation are 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2005, and the legal start and end dates are 1 April 2000 and 31 January 2005, this indicates that the organisation needed the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 March 2000 to prepare systems and services, and 1 February 2005 to 30 June 2005 to close systems and services.

The section below explains the lifespan of an ODS code.

Operational start date

If the organisational change is authorised by a legislative instrument such as GOA or Statutory Order, the details contained in these instruments are what we will apply to the affected ODS code upon the legal effective date. This includes the new name details and legal effective dates.

For acquisitions, the ODS code of the acquiring organisation will be retained. For NHS trusts, the GOA formally informs which ODS code needs to be retained by documenting the acquiring organisation.

For mergers, we recommend one ODS code of the merging organisations is retained. This will reduce reconfiguration activities. We recommend that the ODS code with the most IT systems and processes impacted, and/or most complexity is retained.

Successor code

This is a unique ODS code that has taken over the functions of another ODS code. It ensures continuity of records following a change. It may also be referred to as new code.

If new ODS codes are needed

New ODS codes can be reserved up to 12 weeks before the planned legal effective date of the change, if:

• a Statutory Instrument legally establishing the change has been published, or 
• the authoritative body has verified the change, for example, NHS System Assurance and Regulation team

Note: We must caution that if reserved codes are used in any systems, services, or processes before the legal start date of the change, then this activity may need to be undone if the organisational change is amended, postponed, or cancelled.

New or reserved codes will be officially published by ODS systems at the legal start date or as per agreement with the changing organisation.

Predecessor ODS code

This is an ODS code that has been replaced or will be replaced. It may also be referred to as old or dissolving code.

If there are any codes that need to be dissolved or closed

The legal end date applied to dissolved ODS codes will be the day before the new or successor organisation becomes legally effective. For statutory organisations this date will be included on the Dissolution Order or GOA.

Information requested in Phase 2 - Prepare for go-live, must be completed and submitted to ODS at least 4 weeks before the legal closure of the dissolving organisation. This ensures that site codes can be ready upon the legal effective date of the new or acquiring organisation.

Systems and activity linked to dissolved (predecessor) ODS codes must be closed or migrated over to the ODS successor code before its operational closure. 

ODS codes for dissolved (predecessor) organisations will normally be operationally closed 6 months after the change becomes legally effective. Migration work for items contained in the reconfiguration checklist, and other migration work identified by the impacted organisations must be complete before operational closure. Operational closure of ODS codes removes Spine and any Spine connected system functionality linked to them.

The section below explains the timescales for reconfiguration.

Start