This guidance explains the circumstances under which Hospital Provider Spells should close and reopen as a result of a merger or demerger, in terms of NHS Information Standards.

It specifies which ORGANISATION CODES / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIERS should be used for Hospital Provider Spells which must be closed and reopened for:

• DISCHARGE DESTINATION etc, for the closing Hospital Provider Spell and
• SOURCE OF ADMISSION etc, for the new Hospital Provider Spell.

• A Hospital Provider Spell is provided by one ORGANISATION acting as a Health Care Provider. This means that the Hospital Provider Spell is linked to the ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER of the Health Care Provider.
• If the ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER changes, the spell must end and another begin with the new ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER.
• If the Hospital Provider Spell does end, the Care Professional Admitted Care Episode within the Hospital Provider Spell must also end.

  The following scenarios explain what this means in terms of ORGANISATION mergers or demergers. Note that these assume that nothing changes other than the fact that the ORGANISATIONS merge or demerge, e.g. the CONSULTANT stays the same, etc.

• Trust A merges with Trust B to produce Trust C, which has a new ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER.
  • The ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER will change for both Trust A and B.
  • Therefore Hospital Provider Spells in both Trust A and B should close, and new Hospital Provider Spells should be opened using the new ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER for Trust C.
• Trust A merges with Trust B to produce an ORGANISATION which uses Trust A's ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER.
  • For those Hospital Provider Spells in Trust A, the ORGANISATION CODE will not change. Therefore Trust A's Hospital Provider Spells should not be closed just as a result of the merger. However, for Trust B the ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER will change.
  • Therefore Hospital Provider Spells in Trust B should close, and new Hospital Provider Spells should be opened using the new ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER for Trust A.

• Trust A splits into Trust B and Trust C, both of which have a new ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER.
  • The ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER will change for both Trust B and C.
  • Therefore all Hospital Provider Spells in Trust A should close, and new Hospital Provider Spells should be opened in Trust B and C using the new ORGANISATION CODES / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIERS for each.
• Trust A splits into Trust B and C. Trust B retains Trust A's ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER and Trust C is issued with a new one.
  • The ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER for Hospital Provider Spells in Trust A which are taken over by Trust B will not change.
  • Therefore they should not be closed just as a result of the merger.
  • However, Trust A's Hospital Provider Spells which are taken over by Trust C should close, and new Hospital Provider Spells should be opened using the new ORGANISATION CODE / ORGANISATION IDENTIFIER for Trust C.

If Hospital Provider Spells are to be closed and reopened only as a result of Organisation Mergers or demergers, for most cases the codes below should be used.

• The CLOSED Hospital Provider Spell

DESTINATION OF DISCHARGE

This depends on the type of WARD the PATIENT is in, but will be either:

• 51     NHS other Hospital Provider - WARD for general PATIENTS or the younger physically disabled
• 52     NHS other Hospital Provider - WARD for maternity PATIENTS or Neonates
• 53     NHS other Hospital Provider - WARD for PATIENTS who are mentally ill or have Learning Disabilities

METHOD OF DISCHARGE

• 1   PATIENT discharged on clinical advice or with clinical consent

• The REOPENED Hospital Provider Spell

METHOD OF ADMISSION

• 81     Transfer of any admitted PATIENT from other Hospital Provider other than in an emergency

Note that this ADMISSION METHOD is classed under "Other Admission". It is not elective and the PATIENT does therefore not have an entry on an Elective Admission List.

ADMISSION SOURCE

Again, this depends on the type of WARD the PATIENT is in, but will be either:

• 51     NHS other Hospital Provider - WARD for general PATIENTS or the younger physically disabled or Emergency Care Department
• 52     NHS other Hospital Provider - WARD for maternity PATIENTS or Neonates
• 53     NHS other Hospital Provider - WARD for PATIENTS who are mentally ill or have Learning Disabilities

REFERRER CODE

This will be the referrer to the Hospital Provider Spell within which the PATIENT was receiving care before the merger, i.e. the "original" Hospital Provider Spell.

Guidance for Merging Organisations to support Sending of Commissioning Data Sets to the Secondary Uses Service

• The Secondary Uses Service have published information regarding issues that may affect the approach to submitting data to the Secondary Uses Service.
• The guidance is available on the NHS England website at: Secondary Uses Service (SUS) Guidance: Sending data.