Data Description
This data contains names and identifying codes for Dental Consultants employed by NHS Trusts in England. The codes are derived from the Practitioner’s General Dental Council code (GDC code), to which a ‘CD’ prefix is added. GDC numbers can vary in length from 3 to 6 characters, so in order to maintain a standard length of 8 characters (the same as medical consultant codes) filling zeros are used between the prefix and the GDC number, where required.
* Many consultants working in a dental specialty are also qualified doctors, and therefore have a GMC number in addition to their GDC number. In these cases, the consultants are allocated a Consultant Code (derived from their GMC number) and will also appear in the Hospital Consultant data. There are some dental consultants however, who do not have a GMC number. They are qualified purely in their dental specialty and only have a GDC number and will only be shown under the Dental Consultant data
How Data is Maintained
Dental Consultant information is provided once a month by the Workforce & Facilities team within the NHS England. The data is collated from an extract drawn from the Electronic Staff Record system (ESR).
* Users should note that as the extract is sourced from ESR, it will not include any consultants working for an organisation that does not use the system. This also limits the extracts to a number of (NHS) organisation types: NHS Trusts, Sub ICB Locations, Care Trusts and Special Health Authorities.
Data Quality Assessment
For further information re the: ODS Data Quality Assessment Framework
| Data Quality Dimension | |||||||||||
| Last updated: |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ODS mastered or 3rd party data | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| OVERALL | Frequency of Update | Data Collection Method | Fit for Purpose | Coverage / Completeness | Reliability / Accuracy | Data Agreement | 3rd Party Escalation Routes | System Application / Downstream System Feedback | Future Refinement / Improvement Plan | ||
| Consultants (Hospital and Dental) | AMBER | Red | Red | Green | Red | Amber | 3rd party | Green | Green | Green | Red |
| Monthly | Email (csv files) | Raw data extracted from ESR | Shared specialty consultants are currently omitted. Snapshot data causes records to be dropped - ODS forced to simply end date these. Multiple records sent in raw data if consultant works from more than one hospital - this causes issues for ODS when are try to normalise the data to consultant level. | Raw data contains foreign characters which cannot be published in ODS data. We have to replace with English equivalent. ODS have to check GMC Register and omit suspended consultants. Leading zeros from GMC/GDC codes can be dropped in raw data so ODS must replace. | SLA in place and regularly reviewed | Named contacts in place for escalation | ODS do not receive queries re consultant data quality | ODS would like to make improvements to the raw data for consultants but no firm plans in place currently. | |||
Key Information - Roles, Code Formats and Data Source
| Key Information | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geographic coverage |
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| Practitioner ID | General Dental Council - GDC codes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Practitioner Type Code | PDENTCON | Practitioner Type Name | Dental Consultants | ||||||||||||||||
| Practitioner Role ID | PDENTCON+SpecialtyCode | Practitioner Role Name | MAIN SPECIALTY CODE (datadictionary.nhs.uk) | ||||||||||||||||
| Specialty Code | MAIN SPECIALTY CODE (datadictionary.nhs.uk) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Raw Data Source | Workforce & Facilities team within the NHS Digital | Update Frequency | Monthly | ||||||||||||||||
| Code Format |
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Permitted Relationships
Practitioner Membership | Membership Type Code | Relationship Type Name | Parent Organisation Type |
| ME4 | Dental Consultant Membership | RO197 (NHS Trust) RO107 (Care Trust) |
Legacy .csv Field Mapping
eDconcur.csv file
All records should contain PractitionerAttributeTypeID = 4 for “Dental Consultant Code”.
Notes:
- If a consultant has more than one active ME4 (Dental Consultant Membership) relationship, there will be a record in this report for each of those memberships. This will mean the record looks like a duplication other than the ‘Location Organisation Code’.
- If the consultant has multiple active practitioner roles, these will be presented as an array separated by pipes.
- This report is a snapshot of the current active consultants in our data, hence why the status for most attributes needs to be Active.
Col | Data Item | Report Alias (Legacy csv) | Notes |
1 | [PractitionerAdditionalAttribute] | GDC Code | General Dental Council code. Where PractitionerAttributeTypeID = 6 and where StatusName = ‘ACTIVE’ |
2 | [PractitionerID] | Practitioner Code | Where PractitionerAttributeTypeID = 4 and StatusName = ‘ACTIVE’ |
3 | [PractitionerName] | Practitioner Name | Change from legacy csv: Previously ‘Surname’. Surnames and initials have been concatenated for consistency across all practitioner types |
4 | NULL | Initials | Change from legacy csv: Previously ‘Initials’. Surnames and initials have been concatenated for consistency across all practitioner types |
5 | NULL | Sex | Change from legacy csv: Attribute still available in data model but not populated as raw data not reliable. Set to NULL for predefined report. |
6 | [RoleID] | Main Specialty Code | Change from legacy csv: Where a Practitioner currently performs more than one role/specialty (in the same organisation or in different organisations) these are presented as an array separated by pipes. Where role Status = ‘Active’ |
7 | NULL | Practitioner Type | Change from legacy csv: Previously universally populated with 'C', but this adds no value so is no longer present in the pre defined report. |
8 | Location Organisation Code | ME4 Membership where ‘Status’ = Active | |
9 | NULL | Column 9 | |
10 | NULL | Column 10 | |
11 | NULL | Column 11 | |
12 | NULL | Column 12 | |
13 | NULL | Column 13 |