The aim of the NHS Number for Secondary Care standard (ISB 0149-02, December 2008) is to increase NHS Number usage within Trusts, ensuring that the patient is correctly associated with their unique NHS Number.

The implementation of this standard has resulted in improved NHS Number coverage and usage within NHS Trusts and on communications. However, there are scenarios when a strict interpretation of the requirements of the standard has lead to a reduction in the use of NHS Numbers including those received electronically from trusted sources. This was confirmed in the NHS Number Conformance Report for Secondary Care and General Practice dated December 2009.

The current requirements state:
Applicable Systems MUST record the verification status of each recorded NHS Number.
Only verified NHS Numbers SHOULD be sent electronically.
With respect to hard copy output, only verified NHS Numbers SHOULD be used.

There is significant cost associated with making changes to all Trust applicable systems such that the verification status can be recorded. In the current financial climate many Trusts are unable to implement this requirement and in order to comply with the standard they are forced to stop printing or transmitting the NHS Number, resulting in a reduction in NHS Number usage.

The purpose of this releaseis to change the status of the requirements relating to the recording and transmission of the verification status such that the MUST requirement becomes a MAY, and the requirement to print or transmit only verified NHS Numbers is removed. In addition a requirement to confirm with the patient their demographics and NHS Number is added.

A supplementary change is made to the requirement to be able to search on both NHS Number and demographics concurrently, changing this requirement from a MUST to SHOULD.

It should be noted that verification status is only correct at the time of verification and therefore confirmation of the demographics and NHS Number with the patient is an ongoing requirement.