NHS Number use by Health and Social Care Partners

As Health and Social care organisations work towards integration there will be organisations providing Social Care services that wish to use NHS applications and the NHS Number. As use of NHS Number by social care is new there have been concerns that Social Care organisations should not be using the NHS Number. The NHS Number Programme have been working with the Department of Health Information Policy team who have confirmed that there are no legal implications related to the use of NHS Numbers by social care organisations provided that organisations work with within the policy issued by the Department of Health in 2009:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_098444

It is important that adult social care departments sharing patient information and NHS Numbers adhere to the policy and follow good information sharing practice. The Sharing Information section below provides some helpful links.

Referrals to Social Care

In-line with the Safer Practice Notice[1], NHS employees that are referring patients for social care treatment need to provide the NHS Number. Over 97% of patients have an NHS Number and organisations providing NHS services must use the NHS Number alongside other patient demographics to identify patients. This means that health partners referring patients to social care will, in the majority of cases, be able to provide the NHS Number.

As part of the requirements testing Wigan Adult Social Care monitored referrals from health partners and identified that many referrals did not included the patient’s NHS Number. Wigan contacted health partners to request the NHS Number and periodically monitored referrals to determine whether the inclusion of NHS numbers had increased, this proved successful. Patient notes held by GPs and hospitals must include the patient’s NHS Number as required by the NHS Number standards for General Practice (DSCN 31/2008 renamed ISB 0149-01) and Secondary Care (DSCN 32/2008 renamed ISB 0149-02)[2].

Certain health professionals working in the community may struggle to find a patient’s NHS Number but it will be available on the patient’s notes held by the GP or hospital. If your health partners are not sending NHS Numbers you can highlight this to them and request they pass the NHS Number as required by the Safer Practice Notice and in-line with the Use of NHS Number in Social Care Policy outlined above.

NHS Number Format

It is good practice to display, record and print the NHS Number in a 3-3-4 formation:

943 476 5870 (example only)

NHS Numbers are randomly generated and do not include any patient information. The NHS Number has a 10 numeric digit format. The first nine digits are the identifier and the tenth is a check digit used to confirm the number’s validity.

It is important that systems accepting NHS Numbers validate the check digit using the modulus 11 algorithm, see APPENDIX A Modulus 11 Algorithm.

Options for finding NHS Numbers

Finding an NHS Number for a person is achieved by searching for their record on the Personal Demographics Service (PDS), the national demographics database, and obtaining their NHS Number. This process is referred to as ‘tracing’.

Tracing can be completed by one of 3 methods:

  1. Multiple records batched in a file through the Demographics Batch Service (DBS)
  2. One record at a time through the demographics tracing functionality within Summary Care Record Application (SCRa)
  3. Local IT systems with an online interface to the PDS service

Often it is necessary to use two of these options together.

Currently there are no applications available to social care organisations that have an online link to PDS but there are suppliers working to implement this functionality. If you wish to know your suppliers position contact them directly.

Demographics Batch Service (DBS)

The DBS is a mechanism that allows NHS and other organisations to submit a file of patient information to the Spine for tracing against the PDS. Further details about installing the DBS, together with technical guidance and FAQs, can be found on the NHS facing demographics web pages (N3 connection required)

Summary Care Record application (SCRa)

The SCRa is an online tracing tool that allows access to a patient's demographic and clinical record stored on the Spine. It is provided via the Spine portal to all authorised users. The SCRa allows authorised users to trace a patient in order to determine their NHS Number. For more information about the different ways you can trace a patient using the SCRa visit the NHS facing demographics web pages (N3 connection required)

Connecting to NHS Services

For local authorities wishing to access NHS Services directly the Department of Health and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have adapted the GovConnect network to allow direct access through the N3 network.

http://www.buyingsolutions.gov.uk/services/Communications/GSi/GSiCommunities/GCSX-N3/

There may be other options available locally to access NHS services and N3. Some social care and health partners work together rather than the social care organisation having a separate connection and DBS link.

Support

If you have any queries regarding use of NHS Numbers for social care please contact .

APPENDIX A Modulus 11 Algorithm

The NHS number comprises 10 digits. The first nine digits are the identifier and the tenth is a check digit, used to confirm the number’s validity. The check digit is calculated using the Modulus 11 algorithm.

There are four steps in the calculation:

Step 1: Multiply each of the first nine digits by a weighting factor as follows:

Digit Position (starting from the left) / Factor
1 / 10
2 / 9
3 / 8
4 / 7
5 / 6
6 / 5
7 / 4
8 / 3
9 / 2

Step 2 – add the results of each multiplication together:

40 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 12 + 15 + 8 + 3 + 6 = 92

Step 3 – divide the total by 11 (92 / 11) = 8, remainder 4

Step 4 – subtract the remainder from 11 to give the check digit 11 – 4 = 7

The complete new NHS number in this example is therefore: 401 023 2137

This NHS Number is only an example and should not be used as a patient's NHS Number.

Author: Emma Murphy, NHS Number Programme Date: August 2011 Page 1 of 3

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