RTS News

• Following the news that ODS will withdraw the ORD API (previously used by RTS to ingest ODS data), RTS was updated in April 2026 to ingest ODS data from the ODS FHIR4 API

• This change will futureproof RTS's ingestion of ODS and move the ingestion process from a bespoke API to a standardised API using the FHIR standard

• ODS is moving from CSV files to an API service, which should allow for more frequent and less complex updates

• RTS has switched over to consuming the ODS API as of December 2021, so is now receiving daily updates of ODS data instead of monthly

• RTS is also receiving a much richer data set from ODS, including details of succession events (or mergers) between NHS organisations and sites

From October 2020, all NEW codes will have a new format: Letter-Number-Letter-Number-Letter (eg. A1A1A)

• • ONLY new codes will receive the new format, existing codes will not change at any time.  Existing codes will persist indefinitely until naturally closed.

This change means that relationships between organisations and sites will no longer be represented in the ODS code.  It will no longer be possible to determine the type of site or organisation from the format of the code either once this change is introduced.

During the 2020/21 financial year, the second half of the RTS Identifiers (the OIDs) for all organisations/sites coded by ODS will change from 2.16.840.1.113883.2.1.3.2.4.19.1 (organisations) and 2.16.840.1.113883.2.1.3.2.4.19.2 (sites) to 2.16.840.1.113883.2.1.3.2.4.18.48 (for both organisations and sites)

• • This change will occur in the background for most users, however the LPMS providers may need to update some of their systems