Social Care Data Model Specification

1. Status of This Document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication.

This is a work in progress and is subject to change. This document is maintained by the ODI Development Team and is intended to serve as a reference for standardized data modeling practices.

2. Introduction

This specification defines the Social Care Case Management System data model for structuring and organizing data in a standardized format. The data model provides a foundation for consistent data representation, validation, and exchange across different systems and applications.

2.1. Purpose and Scope

This data model aims to:

• Provide a clear and consistent structure for data representation

• Enable interoperability between different systems

• Support extensibility for future enhancements

• Facilitate data validation and quality assurance

3. Key Concepts

This section introduces the fundamental concepts that form the basis of the data model.

3.1. Core Principles

The data model is built on the following core principles:

• Consistency: Data structures follow consistent patterns and naming conventions

• Extensibility: The model can be extended to accommodate new requirements

• Interoperability: Data can be exchanged between different systems

• Validation: Data structures include validation rules to ensure data quality

4. Data Model

This section defines the core data structures and their relationships for social care case management systems. The data model described in the following sections reuses existing standards and vocabularies which have then been extended to cover the additional requirements needs to support the publication of consumption of Social Care data.

4.1. Namespaces

The rest of this specification makes use of the following namespaces:

dc:

http://purl.org/dc/terms/

schema:

https://schema.org/

skos:

http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#

sc:

https://socialcare.io/

4.2. Data Model Diagram

This diagram illustrates the resources and relationships that are introduced in the following sections.

4.2.1. Describing Person (sc:Person)

The Person entity defines the standardized structure for representing individuals within the unified data model. It consolidates core identity attributes required to uniquely distinguish one person from another and to establish relationships between individuals.

This entity is designed to support interoperability across children’s and adult social care systems, enabling consistent identification and linkage of records. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the implementation of “Single View” systems, thereby improving multi-agency information sharing and coordination.

The following example shows a simple person description:

{
  "type": "Person",
  "identifiers": [
    {
      "type": "Identifier",
      "value": "9434765919",
      "system": "https://fhir.nhs.uk/Id/nhs-number"
    }
  ],
  "names": [
    {
      "type": "Name",
      "familyName": ["Doe"],
      "givenNames": ["John"],
      "preferredNames": "John Doe",
      "use": "official"
    }
  ],
  "dateOfBirth": {
    "type": "DateOfBirth",
    "date": "2017-09-01",
    "accuracyIndicator": "AAA"
  },
  "addresses": [
    {
      "type": "Address",
      "line1": "1 High Street",
      "city": "Anytown",
      "postcode": "AB1 2CD"
    }
  ],
  "gender": "1"
}

4.2.2. Describing Professional (sc:Professional)

A professional is an individual acting in a formal role within an organisation who has responsibilities relating to an individual’s safety, wellbeing, care or support. Professionals will work with individuals in a range of ways, which can include undertaking assessments, creating and monitoring plans or sharing information within a multiagency context.

A professional’s involvement can be ongoing or relate to a specific service episode, and multiple professionals can work with an individual at any one time from a range of agencies.

The following example shows a simple professional description:

{
  "type": "Professional",
  "identifiers": [
    {
      "type": "Identifier",
      "value": "PROF-0001",
      "system": "https://example.org/identifier/local-professional-id"
    }
  ],
  "name": {
    "type": "Name",
    "familyName": ["Smith"],
    "givenNames": ["Alex"]
  },
  "role": [
    "Social care worker"
  ],
  "personalContact": {
    "type": "Contact",
    "name": "Work",
    "email": [
      "alex.smith@example.org"
    ],
    "telephone": [
      "+44 20 7946 0000"
    ]
  },
  "organisations": [
    "https://example.org/organisations/LOCAL-AUTH-001"
  ]
}

4.2.3. Describing Service (sc:Service)

TODO add description

4.2.4. Describing Service Episode (sc:ServiceEpisode)

A service episode is a bounded period during which an individual receives a defined service, intervention, or package of support from a service or professional. It has a recognisable start and end point, though duration may vary from a single contact to sustained involvement over time.

A service episode represents structured engagement rather than a single interaction, and may include multiple contacts, assessments, reviews, or actions within its timeframe. Individuals may experience multiple concurrent or sequential service episodes across different services or organisations.

While a single service episode may reflect routine support, changes in the number, intensity, duration, or overlap of service episodes may indicate shifts in need, complexity, risk, or stability. Patterns of service episodes over time contribute to understanding an individual’s care trajectory and system involvement.

Describing a service episode requires describing a service -- an organisation that is involved in the safeguarding or wellbeing of a person. This could be a social care department of a local authority, an A&E department or GP, a school or education authority, or anything else that may support a person or intervene in their lives.

4.2.5. Desribing Organisation (sc:Organisation)

TODO add description

4.2.6. Describing Life Event (sc:LifeEvent)

A life event is a significant, time-bound occurence in an individual’s life that may have implications for their safety, wellbeing or development. They are not inherently positive or negative, but can indicate to safeguarding and wellbeing professionals levels of risk, vulnerability, need or changes in support requirements. Examples of life events in this space could include attendance at A+E, a child being reported as missing or an exclusion from school.

Safeguarding professionals will be interested in the recency of events (when the event most recently happened), frequency (how frequently that incident is occurring), gravity (how serious the incident is when it occurs) and how the event combines with other events and factors in the individual’s life to ascertain the support needs.

4.2.7. Describing Identifier (sc:Identifier)

Unique identifier (IDs) definition. It aligns with FHIR Identifier and PDS UNIQUE_REFERENCE definitions

4.2.8. Describing Name (sc:Name)

Container for name parts. It aligns with FHIR HumanName.

4.2.9. Describing Date of Birth (sc:DateOfBirth)

Container for the person’s date of birth. It aligns with FHIR Patient.birthDate.

4.2.10. Describing Address (sc:Address)

An address expressed using postal conventions (as opposed to GPS or other location definition formats). It aligns with FHIR Address.

4.2.11. Describing Contact (sc:Contact)

Container for contact information.

4.2.12. Describing Person Relationship (sc:PersonRelationship)

References to other people related to a person.

The following example demonstrates a simple family membership relationship between two people:

{
  "type": "Person",
  "identifiers": [
    {
      "value": "CHILD-0001",
      "system": "https://example.org/identifier/local-person-id"
    }
  ],
  "names": [
    {
      "familyName": ["Taylor"],
      "givenNames": ["Jamie"]
    }
  ],
  "relatedPeople": [
    {
      "type": "PersonRelationship"
      "identifier": {
        "value": "12345",
        "system": "https://example.org/identifier/local-person-id"
      },
      "relationship": [
        "FAMMEMB"
      ]
    }
  ]
},
{
  "type": "Person",
  "identifiers": [
    {
      "value": "12345",
      "system": "https://example.org/identifier/local-person-id"
    }
  ],
  "names": [
    {
      "familyName": ["Taylor"],
      "givenNames": ["Morgan"]
    }
  ]
}

4.2.13. Desribing Status (sc:Status)

A Status to describe the type of status (eg. disability, free schoo meals).

4.2.14. Describing Subject Person (sc:SubjectPerson)

Person(s) involved in the episode.

4.2.15. Describing Related Professional (sc:RelatedProfessional)

Professional(s) involved in the episode.

4.2.16. Describing Time Information (sc:TimeInformation)

Timing of the episode.

5. Vocabularies

5.1. Name Use

Corresponds to FHIR Name Use and indicates the intended purpose of this name. It allows applications to select the appropriate name for a specific context from a set of names. Names can be assumed to be current unless explicitly marked as temporary or old.

5.2. Date Accuracy Indicator

Corresponds to FHIR Date Accuracy Indicator. A three-character code (DDMMYYYY → DMY order) indicating the accuracy of each date component:

• A – Accurate

• E – Estimated

• U – Unknown

Positions:

• 1st character → Day

• 2nd character → Month

• 3rd character → Year

Example:

• AAA – Fully accurate date

• UUE – Day and month unknown, year estimated

• UAA – Day unknown, month and year accurate

5.3. Person Gender Code

The person’s stated gender. This information does not pertain to biological sex. It aligns with FHIR PersonStatedGenderCode and PDS PERSON_STATED_GENDER_CODE definitions.

5.4. Person Sex Code

Observed phenotypic sex. It aligns with PDS PERSON PHENOTYPIC SEX definitions.

5.5. Person Relationship Code

Types of personal relationships between two living subjects (ex. parent, sibling, unrelated friend, neighbor). It aligns with FHIR PersonalRelationshipRoleType definitions.

5.6. Relationship Status Code

TODO find the source vocabulary TODO also mentioned in Profesional. Are these the same vocabulary? TODO also mentioned in Service. Are these the same vocabulary? TODO also mentioned in Organisation. Are these the same vocabulary?

5.7. Relationship Risk Code

TODO find the source vocabulary

5.8. Service Code

TODO find the source vocabulary

5.9. Organisation Code

TODO find the source vocabulary

5.10. Episode Code

TODO find the source vocabulary

5.11. Person Involvement Code

TODO find the source vocabulary

5.12. Professional Involvement Code

5.13. Frequency Code

TODO find the source vocabulary

5.14. Event Code

TODO find the source vocabulary