The NHS needs to recognise certain independent providers of health care. There is a statutory requirement for Health Authorities to make a central return to the DH regarding all Registered Nursing and Residential homes within their area. ODS allocates an Independent Provider code, on request by the HA, covering such types of provider as:

• Nursing Homes
• Charities
• Hospices
• Private Hospitals

From May 2004 the ODS ceased publication of the Independent Provider Directory in PDF format, however, the listing of the codes, names and addresses of all recognised Independent Providers, for England and Wales, can be found in the enonnhs.csv file, ephp.csv and ephpsite.csv.

The Independent Sector Provider Site file (ephpsite.csv) contains private hospitals. This is due to the Introduction of (Diagnosis &) Treatment centres, where the identification of providers of these centres is required.

The Independent Sector Providers file (ephp.csv) contains the parent organisation for each site, in the instance where there is no parent organisation, the 'Other Private Healthcare Providers'(NTY) has been used.

As with other ODS files the parent organisation comprises the first three digits of the site code. To view the File Definition click on the File Description in the table below.

January 2012 Issue

We have created a list of Frequently Asked Questions, which may help you to understand more about the codes and their purpose. If your question is not answered please contact our exeter.helpdesk@nhs.net.

Please use the form OC2ip (PDF, 11Kb) to advise the ODS of changes you wish to make to an existing Code. This form should also be used if you wish to request a new Independent Provider Code.

Users are also reminded that the data contained within this site has crown copyrights.