Data Description
This data contains name and address information and identifying codes for General Dental Practices in England, Wales and Isle of Man. Practices are provided with a parental link to the care provider that is responsible for their operation.
ODS publish data for NHS and private dental practices. Private Dental Practice codes are issued where a dental practice does not have an NHS patients list (e.g. they are providing basic care, such as check-ups) and is Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered.
Known Data Issues
Locations vs Organisations
V codes supplied by the BSA for NHS Dental Practices are actually location codes in COMPASS. In some instances more than one practice can be associated to a V code - i.e. where more than one NHS Dental Practice operates from the same location. In these circumstances, if evidence is provided by the practice, ODS can create a new dental practice code if the other Practice is using the existing V code (ODS allocated from the V8 code range).
Multiple V Codes for the Same Provider at the Same Location/Practice
New NHS treatment locations are setup on Compass by commissioners (which is what drives V codes), and it is possible that this manual creation can lead to more than one V code being created for an NHS treatment location for the same provider (user error). ODS are not able to impact these but instances of duplication are low.
Raw Data Codes vs Published V Codes
A new 7 character code format was introduced for all new NHS Dental Practices from February 2021. This was due to a change in the reporting system used by the NHS Dental Services that required 7-character codes. At that time, the NHS Dental Services amended/recoded all existing NHS Dental Practices by adding a '0' after the V to all previously 6-character codes. The raw data was changed prior to any wider consultation so when received by ODS, the decision was made to minimise impact on downstream systems and for ODS to remove these additional '0's and continue to publish existing NHS Dental Practice codes in their original 6 character format.
How Data is Maintained
NHS Dental Services (part of NHS Business Services Authority) has a live system called COMPASS which is used by NHS England Regions and Welsh Local Health Boards (LHBs) to set up NHS Dental contracts in their area.
NHS Dental Services send monthly data extracts to the ODS team for publication. ODS can accept requests for name amendments directly from the Dental Practice/organisation in question.
For an NHS Dental organisation, a change of ownership does not generate a new code (within the COMPASS system) and therefore ODS do not issue a new Code.
Requests for NHS Dental code closures must be submitted by the NHS England Region Leads/Leads office. Prior to closing any NHS dental code, ODS check the raw dental data file from NHS Dental Services, to ensure there are no pending submissions.
Private Dental Practice codes are created by ODS at the request of the private organisation on an ad hoc basis. These codes are set up with a 'Private Dental Practice' Non-Primary Role (RO65) - see below. If a new private organisation takes over provision at an existing location, then ODS will issue a new private dental code for that practice/location.
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 | ||
| Dental Practice | RED | Red | Red | Amber | Amber | Red | Mix | Green | Amber | Red | Red |
| Monthly | email (spreadsheet) | Contract driven data, not true organisation data See known DQ issues outlined in Data Description section above | All NHS contracts, private dental practices (on request only) | Duplicate codes / Code format changes / Lack of control and influence for ODS / higher than desired level of ODS intervention required to ensure raw data complies with data model / dropped records (impacting closures) | NHS BSA Dental ODS (private) | Current SLA in place | Named contact in place, but ability to respond can be restricted because of BSA system constraints | Confusion as not true org data - ODS Support have to explain limitations, processing, source etc | Previously explored different data sources, such as CQC, but information required is not available | ||
Key Information - Roles, Code Formats and Data Source
| Key Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geographic coverage |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Role ID | RO110 | Primary Role Name | GENERAL DENTAL PRACTICE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non Primary Role ID | RO65 | Non Primary Role Name | PRIVATE DENTAL PRACTICE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Raw Data Source | NHS Dental Services | Update Frequency | Monthly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Code Format |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Permitted Relationships
Permitted Relationships - General Dental Practices can be linked to (upward): | ||||
Relationships to Primary role ID | Relationship Type Id | Relationship Type Name | Target Primary Role Code | Target Primary Role Name |
RO110 | RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO107 | CARE TRUST |
| RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO137 | ISLE OF MAN GOVERNMENT DIRECTORATE | |
| RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO142 | LOCAL HEALTH BOARD | |
| RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO144 | WELSH LOCAL HEALTH BOARD | |
| RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO179 | PRIMARY CARE TRUST | |
| RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO261 | STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP | |
| RE4 | IS COMMISSIONED BY | RO98 | CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP | |
Legacy .csv File Mapping
Click here for an explanation of the baseline data differences between legacy csv files and ODS Data Search and Export and the ODS APIs.
egdpprac.csv
Primary Role ID = RO110
Col | Data Item | Report Alias (legacy csv) | Notes |
1 | [OrganisationCode] | Organisation Code | |
2 | [OrgName] | Name | |
3 | [NHSER_code] | National Grouping | Change from Legacy csv: Geographic extension of the postcode |
4 | [ICB_code] | High Level Health Geography | Change from Legacy csv: Geographic extension of the postcode |
5 | [Address1] | Address Line 1 | |
6 | [Address2] | Address Line 2 | |
7 | [Address3] | Address Line 3 | |
8 | [Town] | Address Line 4 | |
9 | [County] | Address Line 5 | Change from legacy csv: As this is a legacy field, not populated for new addresses since 2018, this field within the ODS Data Search & Export tool (including pre defined reports) will not be populated. Note that the value (where populated) is available via the FHIR Organization Resource in the address.district property. |
10 | [Postcode] | Postcode | |
11 | [LegalStartDate] | Open Date | |
12 | [LegalEndDate] | Close Date | |
13 | [StatusName] | Status | Change from Legacy csv: Previously populated with single character: A (Active), C (Closed), D (Dormant) or P (Proposed). Now the status name/description is provided in full. Note that if using the FHIR R4 API, the Dormant and Proposed statuses need to be retrieved from the Organization or AdditionalAttributes CodeSystem. |
14 | [RoleID] | Organisation Sub-Type Code | Only populated where available Change from Legacy csv: Use RoleID where PrimaryRole = False. RO65 = Private Dental Practice. If standard Dental Practice then this field will be empty. |
15 | [TargetOrgCode] | Parent Organisation Code | RE4 relationship – Where LegalEndDate is null, or where the relationship LegalEndDate is equal to the organisation LegalEndDate |
16 | [LegalStartDate] | Join Parent Date | RE4 relationship date |
17 | [LegalEndDate] | Left Parent Date | RE4 relationship date |
18 | [TelephoneNumber] | Contact Telephone Number | |
19 | NULL | Column 19 | |
20 | NULL | Column 20 | |
21 | NULL | Column 21 | |
22 | ‘1’ | Amended Record Indicator | Set to 1 for Report |
23 | NULL | Column 23 | |
24 | NULL | Column 24 | |
25 | NULL | Column 25 | |
26 | NULL | Column 26 | |
27 | NULL | Column 27 |