Format/length:	an1
HES item:
National Codes:
Default Codes:

Notes:
A code to identify the format and basis of the release of an NHS ORGANISATION CODE being used.

Each use of an NHS ORGANISATION CODE within a CDS message must be associated with the release version of the NHS Organisation Code scheme. At present this may be derived locally by NHS IT systems. The following values have been informally used in many NWCS/CDS implementations and are recommended to be used:

A or O*	Signifying "OLD" (pre-April 1996) to denote an Organisation Code issued before, and in use up to the 1996 major re-issue
B or N*	Signifying "NEW" (post-April 1996) to denote an Organisation Code issued from April 1996

* The values of A and B must be used in the formatting of the Unique CDS Identifier (see the NHS CDS Manual Version 1.3 Section A.2.4.3). However, the values of O and N are permissable as local derivatives. 

This data element is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
plural	ORGANISATION CODE TYPES