Data Description

Succession is recorded against Organisation records where one or more new or existing entities displace or merge with one or more organisations which have closed legally.

Succession only applies to statutory organisations or organisations that are key to the NHS hierarchy, therefore it is not a mandatory element of an ODS record - see Business Rules section below for further information re where succession is applied.  ODS can only add succession data where it has been provided to us/confirmed by the relevant organisations/statutory documentation.

Start dates associated with the succession are 'legal' rather than 'operational' dates. Succession links are never closed so end dates are never applied.  Succession records are published when a legal end date (only) is applied to the predecessor organisation. A record can remain operationally open but legally closed and still have a successor record.

The references defining a Succession are held in records on both sides of the association, e.g. both the closed entity, and the entity that has succeeded or persisted following the closure of a predecessor.  Each reference points to a ‘Target’ entity which is defined as a ‘Successor’ (i.e. going forward in time from the subject entity) or a ‘Predecessor’ (going back in time from the subject entity). 

A given subject record will only hold references to immediate target successor(s) and/or predecessor(s) – in each direction. To obtain further succession information the record for the target entity must be interrogated and a data item ‘forwardSuccession’ is supplied that indicates whether there is any further forward succession held on the target.

Note that all successors and predecessors specified on records in current, live data will exist in those files for referential integrity purposes, even if those target records appear in the archive (they will be included in live as RefOnly records).  If the full chain of Succession needs to be derived, e.g. from PCTs back to Primary Care Groups, the Archive file and the Full current XML file/data would need to be loaded into the local database.

There is no restriction on the number of entities that may reference a single Organisation entity as a Target for Succession relationships, although each one may only do so once. 

Succession Example:

• Org X – succeeded by Org Y
• Org Y would have a succession of type “Predecessor” stored on its record

Where there is a longer chain of succession the behaviour is a little more complex. Succession is only recorded for the immediate predecessor or successor. For example:

• Org A – succeeded by Org B – succeeded by Org C - succeeded by Org D
• Org D would have a single Succession of Type “Predecessor” to Org C only
• Org C would have two Successions, of Type “Predecessor“ to Org B and Type “Successor” to Org D
• Org B would have two Successions, of Type “Predecessor“ to Org A and Type “Successor” to Org C

Business Rules - When Succession is Applied

General business rules for where ODS apply succession by primary role/org type (dependent on successor data being relevant and provided/available to ODS). Exceptions may be handled by ODS on a case by case basis.

Succession Data Attributes

Legacy .csv File Mapping

succ.csv