Submitting on behalf of other organisations, sites and teams
A description of submission arrangements for various organisational structures and inter-relationships.
Summary
A description of submission arrangements for various organisational structures and inter-relationships.
1. Submitting data on behalf of another organisation
Some organisations, usually smaller providers, can work with another organisation to submit data on their behalf, using the technical knowledge and/ or systems of the submitting organisation.
Whilst one organisation can submit data on behalf of another organisation, data should be submitted independently, using separate Intermediate Databases (IDB).
Each successful submission overwrites the last for a given month – you may be overwriting an organisation’s previous submission so please ensure this is the desired action before continuing
If you make multiple successful submissions for the same month, only the most recent submission will be used. This applies regardless of which individual user submitted the data. This is true even if you submit again after the submission deadline, due to the Multiple Submission Window Model. In other words, you cannot use multiple submissions to append data, for example for a different team. You need to either combine the data into one submission or submit under a separate ODS code.
If the individual submitting the data is from a different organisation, there is no change to the Data User Certificate (DUC) form process set out in the registration guidance; the individuals making the submission must be listed as submitters for the organisation that is providing the care.
When submitting, within the MHS000 Header table, there are two data items that must be accurately completed:
- ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER (CODE OF PROVIDER) - where the organisation code of the individual submitting the data should be entered (OrgIDSubmit)
- ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER (CODE OF SUBMITTING ORGANISATION) where the organisation code of the provider providing the care should be entered (OrgIDProvider)
Information governance considerations
If two organisations wish to set up an arrangement for data flow, they would need a contract and a data depositor agreement.
The agreement would place the submitting organisation as data processor, and the organisation providing the care as data controller. The data controller would be contracting the data processor to make MHSDS submissions.
Due to the data sharing required, organisations must ensure compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) such as by undertaking a data protection impact assessment.
There are no templates for this as these are local arrangements. Helpful resources exist, such as guidance published by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
2. Submitting data on behalf of multiple sites
Many organisations deliver services across multiple sites. To help identify where activity took place within an organisation, each site should be registered independently by requesting a site code.
How site data is submitted is an important consideration and the implications should be understood before choosing a submission method.
To combine data into one submission (see limitation below)
The Organisation Identifier (Code of Provider) in the MHS000 Header table should be populated with the ODS code for the main organisation. Individual sites can be identified in the database by populating the ODS code for the site in the Organisation Site Identifier (Of Treatment) fields (in the MHS201, MHS301and MHS502 tables).
There is one limitation of this method, if the patient is treated elsewhere (such as in their home) then the Organisation Site Identifier (Of Treatment) will use one of the default codes, not that of the organisation site (i.e. R9998 - Not a hospital site, 89997 - Non-UK Provider where no ORGANISATION SITE IDENTIFIER has been issued, 89999 - Non-NHS UK Provider where no ORGANISATION SITE IDENTIFIER has been issued).
Data will be reported under the main organisation code in the published statistics and in the Data Quality Maturity Index metrics (DQMI).
To submit the data separately
The Organisation Identifier (Code of Provider) in the MHS000 Header table should be populated with the ODS code for the site. To ensure accurate reporting the individual site should also be identified in the database by populating the ODS code for the site in the Organisation Site Identifier (Of Treatment) fields (in the MHS201, MHS301and MHS502 tables) but this may be limited as highlighted above.
Data will be reported under the independent site codes in the published statistics, but under the main organisation code in the Data Quality Maturity Index metrics (DQMI).
3. Submitting data on behalf of multiple teams
Within an organisation, or site, there may be multiple teams delivering care.
Data relating to more than one team should be combined into the same submission. However, there may be exceptions to this where the team providing care is a wellbeing or resilience hub (in which case the data should be submitted as if it was a site; it is important to understand the implication of this, discussed above).
To identify teams delivering care in a community setting (i.e., where the referral is to a community service and not required for inpatient services), the MHS102 Service or Team Type Referred To table should be populated
- the Care Professional Team Local Identifier field in the MHS102 table should be populated with a unique identifier to assign the team to a specific referral
- the Service or Team Type field in the MHS102 table should be populated with one of the codes listed in the Technical Output Specification to identify the service or team type
- the Care Professional Team Local Identifier should be assigned to a specific care contact in MHS201 Care Contact or to a specific indirect activity in MHS204 Indirect Activity to identify the team carrying out the activity
Last edited: 20 March 2025 1:04 pm