Sub-ICB Reporting Entity Codes

The Sub-ICB Reporting Entity solution has now been applied to Frimley ICB as well as the London ICBs. 

• There are 5 new codes with a primary role of RO98 Clinical Commissioning Group and a non primary role of RO327 Sub-ICB Reporting Entity for Frimley ICB.
• Each of these 5 Sub-ICB Reporting Entity codes have an RE2 ‘Is A Sub Division Of’ relationship to QNQ – NHS Frimley ICB
• Each Prescribing Cost Centre code (including GP Practices) commissioned by ‘NHS Frimley ICB – D4U1Y’ Sub-ICB Location, has a new/additional relationship (RE11 ‘Is Constituent Of’) that links it to the relevant Sub-ICB Reporting Entity code.
• These new RE11 ‘Is Constituent Of’ relationships do not replace the formal commissioning relationships already published (RE4). They are in addition and enable lower level/granular reporting within the ICB.

For further information regarding the Sub-ICB Reporting Entity coding model, please see the article below regarding the London implementation.

Prior to the Health and Care Act (2022), clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were encouraged to merge in preparation for becoming integrated care boards (ICBs). The CCGs in London did this starting in 2020. The Organisation Data Service (ODS) issued new codes for these merged CCGs and closed the codes for the legacy CCGs. GP practices and primary care networks (PCNs) were reconfigured to show these new merged CCG codes as their commissioner. Following the mergers London noted that they had lost the granularity of data they require to understand the delivery of care services at a local level.

In July 2022, with the introduction of ICBs, the CCGs codes became ‘sub ICB locations’ (SICBL) codes. As a result of the CCG mergers, each of the 5 London ICBs has only one sub-ICB location (SICBL), which is coterminous with the ICB (that is, there is no granularity available at the lower tier).

Over the past 2 years the London Regional teams and ICBs have been asking ODS to re-instate codes for their Borough related, pre-merger CCGs as their single SICBL codes do not provide the granularity to allow them to work efficiently nor to ‘drill down’ for Borough level information on national dashboards.

A number of service tickets have been raised for this requirement. Having reviewed their requirements at length, ODS implemented the following solution for London from April 2024. It involved two changes:

For the 5 current London sub ICB Location codes - 36L, A3A8R, 72Q, W2U3Z and 93C: 

1. The primary role (organisation type) of Clinical Commissioning Group [role_ID RO98] will remain the same.
2. The non-primary role of sub ICB Location [role_ID RO319] will remain.
3. Add a new, non-primary role of 'ICB Commissioning Proxy' [role_ID RO326].
4. These codes will continue to hold the current commissioning relationship to GP practices and PCNs, for example. This is used in many other applications such as SPINE, SUS+, RA (CIS/Smartcard), so we will not risk breaking those.
5. No changes to the names of these codes – they will still have the nationally agreed name format (such as NHS NORTH EAST LONDON ICB – A3A8R) as used in NHSmail containers.
6. The relationship to the ICB remains unchanged as 'In the Geography of' [RE5].

Introduce a new non-primary role of 'Sub-ICB Reporting Entity' (SI-RE) [role_ID RO327] within the Clinical Commissioning Group primary role [role_IDRO98].

1. Issue 32 new SI-RE codes for each Borough or pre-merger CCG in London.
   1. Name these SI-RE codes based on the Borough-based partnerships as listed on page 7 of the 5Ps inPLACE Framework [5Ps-inPLACE-Framework-and-Toolkit-v.6-October-2022.pdf (transformationpartners.nhs.uk)] or amended at the request of the OC1 for the ICB.
   2. Link these 32 new codes to the related ICB/ICS as shown in the above list of Borough-based partnerships using the relationship “Is Sub-Division Of” [RE2].
   3. The address and postcode of the SI-RE will be that of the parent ICB.
2. Link the appropriate Prescribing Cost Centres[role_ID RO177] including GP Practices[role_ID RO76] to the relevant Sub ICB Reporting Entity (SI-RE):
   1. Introduce a new relationship type 'Is constituent of' [RE 11] for this link.
   2. Determine the relevant SI-RE by remapping Prescribing Cost Centre data to predecessor (pre-merger) CCGs to provide an initial list  and supplement it with suggestions for newer Prescribing Cost Centres using NHS Postcode data. This will then be confirmed by the OC1s for each ICB.
   3. Allows end-users to exclude non-relevant Prescribing Cost Centre to see just GP practices [role _ID RO76] by filtering on the non-primary role codes.
   4. We have been requested to define these Sub-ICB Reporting Entities (SI-RE) using Prescribing Cost Centres, particularly GP Practices as this is the ‘lowest common denominator’ that the ICBs and London Regional teams need for their operational requirements. 
3. GP practices in London will then have at least 3 relationships:
   1. 'Commissioned by' [RE4] relationship to the ICB Commissioning Proxy/sub-ICB Location code.
   2. 'Is Partner to' [RE8] or 'Is Nominated Payee for' [RE9] relationship to one Primary Care Network (PCN) code.
   3. 'Is Constituent of' [RE11] relationship to one Sub-ICB Reporting Entity (SI-RE) code [RO327].
4. These Prescribing Cost Centre (including GP Practice) to SI-RE relationships will be published via the ODS API from 1 April 2024 and should become available on the new ODS – Data Search & Export (ODS-DSE) tool in July 2024 when the tool is scheduled to go live in a beta version. These relationships will not be available in the csv file epracur or on the current ODS Portal or ODS DataPoint tool.

Therefore, London will have 37 codes, all under the primary role (organisation type) of ‘Clinical Commissioning Group’ [RO98], but with different Non-Primary Roles indicating their different functions and purposes. These are:

• 5 existing ones - 36L, A3A8R, 72Q, W2U3Z and 93C - with the ICB name and code at the end (such as NHS SOUTH WEST LONDON ICB – 36L), with an active ‘Sub ICB Location’ non-primary role [RO319] and an active ‘ICB Commissioning Proxy’ non-primary role [R0326]
• 32 new codes with the name of the London Borough, with an active ‘Sub-ICB Reporting Entity’ non-primary role [R0327]

We envisage low impact to dependent systems and processes from these changes. For more guidance from the London ICB analyst teams please visit: Proposal: Sub-ICB Reporting Entities (Apr 2024) - NELIE Help (zendesk.com)

Impact on data submissions

Providers will see no change in how they are asked to submit data. They will continue to use the five existing Commissioner Codes (A3A8R, W2U3Z, 93C, 36L and 72Q) for their submissions.

One potential risk may occur dependent upon how providers are determining the available options for the selection of commissioner code.

That is, if providers are presenting or selecting the options for commissioner code based solely upon the available set with a primary role of RO98 (Clinical Commissioning Groups) then this would include both the current London Sub-ICB Locations RO319, and when they are introduced will also include the London Sub-ICB Reporting Entities RO327. This may risk confusion.

If you experience any issues, please contact us via the National Service desk and include 'ODS Sub-ICB Reporting Entity Codes' in the subject.