NHS Data Model and Dictionary Retirement Policy

The NHS Data Model and Dictionary contains Classes, Attributes, Data Elements, NHS Business Definitions and Supporting Information, relating mainly to data sets which have been approved over time by the Information Standards Board for health and social care (or its predecessors). During development of new data sets, or changes to existing data sets, it may be necessary to 'retire' these entities in their entirety, or to retire parts of their associated definitions or national value lists.

The NHS Data Model and Dictionary is required to indicate where an item used to be a national standard, but that item has been retired. This is to enable historical analysis and research work to continue to be supported.

The NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service have developed a mechanism to archive previous versions of the NHS Data Model and Dictionary.

Please see the NHS Data Model and Dictionary Retirement Policy (PDF, 296.1kB) for further information.

Data Dictionary Change Notice Policy

The Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care (ISB) Bulletin, March 2010 stated:

"This is a reminder that the Data Set Change Notice (DSCN) will be renamed to the Information Standards Notice (ISN) from 1st April 2010. This is in recognition that information standards are much wider than just data sets.

You will also see a Data Dictionary Change Notice. This will be issued where the Data Dictionary changes but it does not affect any information standards. More information will be provided on the website when these new documents are used."

This has led to the requirement for a Data Dictionary Change Notice Policy, which has been developed by the NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service.

Please see the NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service DDCN Policy (PDF, 62.5kB) for further information.

A full list of published Data Dictionary Change Notices can be found on the NHS Data Model and Dictionary Service website.