COMMISSIONING SERIAL NUMBER

COMMISSIONING SERIAL NUMBER is the same as attribute NHS SERVICE AGREEMENT NUMBER.

From 01/04/2001 this data item will be used to identify PATIENTS treated under Non-Contract Activities. NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts are required to insert the letters 'OAT' (mandated input as capitals) in the first three characters of the COMMISSIONING SERIAL NUMBER field of the Admitted Patient Care Commissioning Data Set. The remaining three characters will continue to be defined locally, see DSCN 17/2000.

From 01/04/2005 an '=' (equals) as the last significant character in this six character field will indicate an episode that should be excluded from the National Tariff Payment System tariff.

The position of the last character depends on any preceding characters eg 1st character if field is otherwise blank, 4th character if following 'OAT', up to a maximum of 6th position. This provides a general exclusion facility for unusual circumstances or where more specific rules regarding coding in other fields cannot be implemented due to local software restrictions.

Note: the Format/Length has been updated in Data Dictionary Change Notice 1808 "Correction of Format/Length Data Elements". The Data Set specifications that contain this item will be updated in the next version of the Information Standard where it is not already correct.

COMMISSIONING SERIAL NUMBER will be replaced with NHS SERVICE AGREEMENT IDENTIFIER, which is the most recent approved national information standard to describe the required definition.