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There are 35 specialised service definitions covered by the Specialised Services National Definitions Set.
The 2nd edition of the Specialised Services National Definitions Set (SSNDS) was completed in December 2002. The 3rd edition is being created during 2009/10.
The purpose of a definition is to identify the activity that should be regarded as specialised and therefore within the remit of PCT collaborative commissioning. A service is specialised if the planning population (ie. catchment area) for that service is greater that one million people. This means that a specialised service would not be provided by every hospital in England; generally, it would be provided by less than 50 hospitals.
Each definition is drawn up by a process involving providers (clinicians, hospital managers, and information and coding staff), commissioners, patients’ groups and the Department of Health. It is then endorsed by the relevant national organisations, signed off by the National Specialised Commissioning Group (NSCG) and published on the NSCG website.
The production of the SSNDS is an iterative process. The content of individual definitions in the SSNDS will inevitably change over time as new healthcare services which are specialised are introduced into the NHS and other services, which were previously specialised, become commonplace and cease to be considered specialised.
Future editions of the SSNDS will become more refined as the classifications systems develop and become better able to categorise specialised service activity. The current classification systems used in the third edition are the International Classification of Diseases, version 10, and the OPCS Classification of Interventions and Procedures, version 4.
Comments and suggested improvements to the definitions are very welcome and can be sent to the National Specialised Commissioning Group. Contact details are available from:
To access the latest edition available of a particular definition please visit the dedicated NHS website
