Currently on version 4.6, OPCS Classification of Interventions and Procedures ("OPCS-4") is a procedural classification list for the coding of operations, procedures and interventions performed on NHS patients during an episode of health care in the UK. As such it is comparable with ICD-10, which is used for coding diagnoses in the same setting.
The first NHS procedural classification was published in 1987, by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys as the Classification of Surgical Operations[1]. In 1992 the 4th revision was released as the OPCS Classification of Surgical Operations and Procedures (4th revision)[2] (OPCS-4.2). In 1999, responsibility for the classifications used in the NHS passed to the newly formed NHS Information Authority (NHS IA). However, OPCS-4.2 remained the mandated method of procedural classification in the NHS setting until March 2006.
In 2003, the NHS IA had realised that OPCS-4.2 no longer clinically reflected many of the procedures developed since its last revision. As a medium term measure, a project to replace OPCS-4 with a more robust method of procedure coding was proposed and partially developed. Rather than a sequence of several codes, the new classification would have used a single alphanumeric code up to 15 characters long to capture activity. However, when the NHS IA was superseded by NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH) in 2005, the project was put on indefinite hold, and a program of annual revisions to OPCS-4 was implemented. Much of the development work for the redundant project was reused to produce the initial expansion and enhancement of OPCS-4.2 to OPCS-4.3.
Since the publication of OPCS-4.3 in 2006 there have been three further revisions to OPCS-4. Each becoming the mandated classification on 1 April in the year of publication[3].
OPCS-4 version mandated for use (financial year)
Whilst NHS CFH continues to review OPCS-4 on an annual basis, the long term plan remains to replace OPCS-4 with SNOMED CT[4].
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