ASSIGN- UPRN address match application

Source code

The source code, available under the Apache 2.0 open source license is hosted on github at

https://github.com/endeavourhealth-discovery/ASSIGN

Background and Purpose of ASSIGN

In partnership with researchers at Queen Mary University of London’s Clinical Effectiveness Group, Endeavour Health has developed an address-matching algorithm to link patient health records to geospatial information. Linking people to places can help researchers understand how health is impacted by social and environmental factors, like the characteristics of a household, green space or air pollution. But patient addresses are entered into GP records as free text so the same address can be written in different ways, making data linkage very difficult.

The algorithm, known as ASSIGN (AddreSS MatchInG to Unique Property Reference Numbers), allocates a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) to patient records. Every property in the UK already has a UPRN. They are allocated by local authorities and made nationally available by Ordnance Survey. A UPRN gives every address a standardised format, enabling pseudonymised linkage to other sources of data.

ASSIGN compares addresses in the NHS record with the Ordnance Survey's "Address Base Premium" UPRN database, one element at a time, and decides whether there is a match. The algorithm mirrors human pattern recognition, so it allows for certain character swaps, spelling mistakes and abbreviations. After rigorous testing and adjustments, ASSIGN correctly matches 98.6% of patient addresses at 38,000 records per minute. It also includes patients’ past addresses, making it possible to study addresses across the life span.

Researchers at Queen Mary are using the pseudonymised UPRNs to study:

·        how the health of household members impacts childhood obesity

·        whether overcrowded or multi-generational households are at greater risk from Covid-19

·        how to support GPs to identify people living in care homes so they can provide more effective care.

As ASSIGN is open source, it is hoped the algorithm will also be used by other researchers to link data, inform policy and improve population health across England.

A paper is published at https://ijpds.org/article/view/1674 which describes the use of the algorithm in a project to allocate UPRNs to GP patient addresses.

Component services

ASSIGN supports two main services

1. A Web application that people can use to upload a list of addresses and obtain a list of matched addresses and UPRNs (this article)
2. A REST API that systems can use to request a matched address and a UPRN for an address.

UPRN data source

Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) are property identifiers for every property in Great Britain. Ordnance Survey provides access to these in a number of products, but their AddressBase Premium product is the most comprehensive database. It is derived from local government's NLPG (National Land and Property Gazetteer) as created and maintained by GeoPlace, Ordnance Survey’s OS MasterMap Address Layer 2 and the Royal Mail’s PAF (Postcode Address File). It adheres to British Standard for addressing BS7666, and every property has its Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and geographical co-ordinates. It is updated every 6 weeks.

Furthermore, there is an assured link between all addresses associated with a property over its life cycle, and from local authority and Royal Mail sources.

That being the case, if there was a service or application that matched the address from someone's health record to at least ONE of the addresses supplied by Address Base Premium then the UPRN can be derived and linked to the person.

Application Functionality

To access the application the user must either be a user of Discovery, or must create their own account in line with level 1 authentication process. An authenticated user has authority to access the UPRN match user interface. In addition to address matching, if the user wishes to have additional data, the user must have rights to access the OS ABP data, usually via the open Government license.

Inputting an address

There are two main functions available to the user:

1. Enter an address of some kind and attempt to get a match
2. Upload a list of addresses (between 1 and 100,000) and attempt to get a list of matches

An additional flag entered by the user indicates whether to match only on residential properties or include commercial matches.

A match is presented in one of three forms and the user can select either/ or:

• Plain English address : Simply displaying the address fields and their value,together with information
• JSON structure. This is a machine readable structure which includes the same information and can be processed by a computer more easily than plain English
• CSV file. Suitable for importing into Excel (with a note on converting UPRNs to text) or to a database.

The matching details for an address are described in more detail below

Address match response

The following table explains the information returned following a match attempt.

The term 'Candidate address' is the address entered by the user or submitted in the file. The 'authority address' is an address provided by the Ordnance survery address based premium and may be a post office address or a local authority address.

No match responses

No match message	Value	Explanation
Address format	Null address lines	No address lines submitted
	Insufficient characters	The address format does not appear to contain enough characters to attempt to match (<9)
Post code quality	invalid post code	The post code is an invalid format
	missing post code	Post code is missing. The address may be matched without a post code but normally a post code is necessary even if incorrect in order to simply narrow down the potential matches
	Out of area	The post code is valid but unrecognised and appears to be out of area It should be noted that there will still be an attempt to match the address without a post code or a partial match on a post code.
Matched	false	No match

Match responses

Whenever there is a positive match, the response includes the qualifier of the match and the pattern of match,

The following information is provided when there is a match.

Field	Value	Description
Address format	good	Sufficient characters and if there is a post code it is valid
	See unmatched	The address quality may still be poor (post code etc) even though there is a match
Matched	True	There was a match. Note that this may not be an exact match
UPRN		The unique property reference number provided by the Ordnance survey via the Address Based Premium service
Match qualifier	See values in match algorithm article	The qualifier of the match i.e. whether exact or close etc
Classification		The classification code of the property
ClassTerm		The term of the code of the property
Algorithm		the code of the algorithm that ended up with the best match. This is a combination of rule order number and sub matching algorithm when applied to a preformatted address. For example 1-match1 indicates the first rule and match1 algorithm. EAn exact case independent match.
ABPAddress	Address components as below:	The Address Base Premium address that match to the candidate address
	Flat	flat number
	Building	name of building
	Building number	number of building in street
	Dependent thoroughfare	A sub-street or something that is dependent on the street to get to the address
	Street	The street the building is on
	Dependent locality	An area smaller than a localitu
	Locality	A locality or area within a town or village
	Town	town
	Post code	post code
	Organisation	name of organisation if recorded by ABP
Match pattern	see values in article on match algorithm	For the purposes of match pattern reporting the 9 main address fields are rationalised to 5 and the match pattern indicates the approximation of the match and any field manipulation that took polace

Property classification

Properties are classified by assigning classification codes. Each code has a term and indicates the type of property that the database thinks it is. Some of these properties are obviously residential (e.g. detached house) and some are obviously commercial (e.g. a slaughter house). Some may be both residential or commercial (e.g. a public house). Some properties cannot be either (e.g. advertising hoarding)

Assign flags the property types it thinks are usually residential and this information is used in the algorithm

ASSIGN algorithm

main article UPRN address matching algorithms

the algorithms used to match addresses are described in more detail by the UPRN address matching algorithms article.

Example use of UPRN data

Place of residence information

In this example, the UPRN match to an address has been used to determine a place of residence for a patient at a particular point in time.

Implementation has consisted of creating a user defined function, in SQL a "table valued function" which returns a wealth of information about the place the person is likely to have resided at at a date of event (e.g. the date of onset of a disease or symptom)

In this case the data analyst is seeking the following information, including the quality of the match between the address and the UPRN

Field	Description	Values
Person	A set of organisational patients with the same NHS number considered to be one person	Identifier
Patient	A uniquely identified person (identified by NHS number) for a particular organisation	Identifier
Alive and GMS registered	Whether GMS registered and alive at the event date	GMS registered and alive Not GMS registered Unclear whether GMS registered/ alive or not
Address candidate count	The number of addresses that would appear to indicate the patient’s home address at the date of event	Number Normally 1, but in some cases, there may be more than one that appear as possibilities (see below for optional inclusion)
Address start date	The address start date according to the GP record.	Date or null
Address end date	The address end date or null according to the GP record	Date or null
UPRN	The most valid UPRN for each address recorded in records	https://wiki.endeavourhealth.org/index.php?title=UPRN_address_matching_algorithm
RALF	The most valid RALF for each address derived from the UPRN	Pseudonymised number or null
Address line 1	Address line as recorded in source system	Text or null
Address line 2	Address line as recorded in source system	Text or null
Address line 3	Address line as recorded in source system	Text or null
Address line 4	Address line as recorded in source system	Text or null
Town or city	As recorded in source system	Text or null
Post code	As recorded in source system	Text or null
LSOA	Lower super output area linked to the post code linked to the post code in the matched UPRN	Text or null
MSOA	Middle super output area linked to the post code in the matched UPRN address	Text or null
UPRN match date	The date of match for the UPRN	Date
UPRN match qualifier	The qualifier for the address match in relation to the UPRN	equivalent, parent, sibling
EPOCH	AddressBase premium epoch number that generated the match	Number
Property Classification	The classification of the property according to ABP at the time of match	Classification concept e.g. commercial, residential
UPRN x coordinate	The X geo coordinate from ABP	Number
UPTN y coordinate	The Y geo coordinate from ABP	Number
Match pattern flat	The nature of the match to the flat inferred from the candidate provider address	https://wiki.endeavourhealth.org/index.php?title=UPRN_address_matching_algorithm#Match_patterns
Match pattern flat	The nature of the match to the flat or house name inferred from the candidate provider address	https://wiki.endeavourhealth.org/index.php?title=UPRN_address_matching_algorithm#Match_patterns
Match pattern number	The nature of the match to the house number inferred from the candidate provider address	https://wiki.endeavourhealth.org/index.php?title=UPRN_address_matching_algorithm#Match_patterns
Match pattern street	The nature of the match to the street inferred from the candidate provider address	https://wiki.endeavourhealth.org/index.php?title=UPRN_address_matching_algorithm#Match_patterns
Match pattern post code	The nature of the match to the post code inferred from the candidate provider address	https://wiki.endeavourhealth.org/index.php?title=UPRN_address_matching_algorithm#Match_patterns

Use in SQL query

In order to use this function in query, being in Microsoft SQL, one could use a cross apply.

Example usage of function in SQL

SELECT
        covid.patient_id
        ,covid. nhs_number
        ,covid.effectiveDate
        ,por.gms
        ,por.addressCount
        ,por.uprn
        ,por.x
        ,por.y
    FROM
        (
            SELECT
                    patient_id
                    ,clinical_effective_date
                FROM
                    observation] o
                WHERE
                    o.core_concept_ IN ('covid-19')
        ) AS covid 
        CROSS apply (
            SELECT
                    *
                FROM
                    PlaceAtEventTime (
                        covid.patient_id
                        ,covid.clinical_effective_date,default
                    ) AS paet
        ) AS por

Table value function

This is an example implementation of the property as a user defined table value function

Example definition of function in sql

USE [db_lookup]
GO
/****** Object:  UserDefinedFunction [gpp].[PlaceAtEventTime_V2_1]    Script Date: 14/09/2022 11:45:26 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

ALTER FUNCTION [gpp].[PlaceAtEventTime_V2_1](@patient_id as bigint, @event_date date, @multiple_addresses int = 0)
RETURNS
@tUPRN TABLE
(
	multiple_addresses int,
	id bigint,
	person_id bigint,
	patient_id bigint,
	patient_address_id bigint,
	gms int,
	address_candidate_count int,
	address_start_date date,
	address_end_date date,
	uprn varchar(255),
	ralf varchar(255),
	address_line_1 varchar(255),
	address_line_2 varchar(255),
	address_line_3 varchar(255),
	address_line_4 varchar(255),
	towncity varchar(100),
	postcode varchar(50),
	lsoa varchar(200),
	msoa varchar(200),
	uprn_match_date datetime,
	uprn_match_qualifier varchar(100),
	epoch int,
	property_classification varchar(50),
	uprn_x float,
	uprn_y float,
	match_pattern_flat varchar(200),
	match_pattern_number varchar(200),
	match_pattern_street varchar(200),
	match_pattern_post_code varchar(200)
)
AS
BEGIN
	DECLARE @gms as varchar(1)
	DECLARE @address_count as int
	DECLARE @place_of_residence_count as int
	DECLARE @person_id as bigint

	if (@multiple_addresses <> 0 and @multiple_addresses <> 1) RETURN

	select @gms = [gpp].GMS_V2(@patient_id, @event_date)
	-- must be currently registered for event date
	if @gms <> 1 begin
		INSERT INTO @tUPRN(id, person_id, patient_id, patient_address_id, gms, address_candidate_count)
			VALUES (null, null, @patient_id, null, @gms, null)
		RETURN
	end

	INSERT INTO @tUPRN (multiple_addresses, id, person_id, patient_id, patient_address_id, gms, address_candidate_count, address_start_date, address_end_date, uprn, ralf,
		address_line_1, address_line_2, address_line_3, address_line_4, towncity, postcode, lsoa, msoa, uprn_match_date,
		uprn_match_qualifier, epoch, property_classification, uprn_x, uprn_y, match_pattern_flat, match_pattern_number, match_pattern_street, match_pattern_post_code)

	SELECT @multiple_addresses, uprn.id, address.person_id, address.patient_id, address.id, @gms, 0, address.start_date, address.end_date, uprn.uprn, uprn.uprn_ralf00, address.address_line_1, address.address_line_2,
		address.address_line_3, address.address_line_4, address.city, address.postcode, address.lsoa_2011_code, address.msoa_2011_code, uprn.match_date, uprn.qualifier, uprn.epoch,
		uprn.uprn_property_classification, uprn.uprn_xcoordinate, uprn.uprn_ycoordinate, uprn.match_pattern_flat, uprn.match_pattern_number, uprn.match_pattern_street, uprn.match_pattern_postcode
        
	FROM [compass_gp].[dbo].[patient_address] address

	LEFT JOIN [compass_gp].[dbo].[patient_address_match] uprn
	ON uprn.patient_address_id= address.id

	WHERE address.patient_id = @patient_id AND 
	(address.start_date <= @event_date or address.start_date is null)
	AND (address.end_date >= @event_date or address.end_date is null)
	AND
	uprn.id = (SELECT top 1 id 
		FROM [compass_gp].[dbo].[patient_address_match] uprn
	WHERE uprn.patient_address_id = address.id
	ORDER BY uprn.match_date DESC)

	if (@multiple_addresses = 0)
	begin
		select  @address_count = count(1) from @tUPRN
		if (@address_count > 1)
		begin
			select @person_id = person_id from @tUPRN
			delete from @tUPRN
			INSERT INTO @tUPRN(id, person_id, patient_id, patient_address_id, gms, address_candidate_count)
				VALUES (null, @person_id, @patient_id, null, @gms, @address_count)
		end
	end

	RETURN
END

gms function

This determines whether a patient is registered for gms services on a particular date

Example definition of gms registered function in sql

USE [db_lookup]
GO
/****** Object:  UserDefinedFunction [gpp].[GMS_V2]    Script Date: 12/09/2022 21:50:17 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

ALTER FUNCTION [gpp].[GMS_V2](@nor bigint, @event_date date)
RETURNS VARCHAR

BEGIN
	-- declare @event_date as date
	-- declare @nor as bigint
	
	-- set @event_date = '2013-12-01'
	-- set @nor = 7

	declare @var_date_registered as date
	declare @var_date_registered_end as date
	declare @b as varchar(1)

	-- declare @var_date date, @var_dat2 as date = (
	Select @var_date_registered=latestreg.date_registered, @var_date_registered_end=latestreg.date_registered_end
	From(
	Select top 1  patient_id, date_registered, date_registered_end, registration_type_concept_id
	From [compass_gp].[dbo].[episode_of_care] e
	join [compass_gp].[dbo].[patient]p on p.id=e.patient_id
	Where (date_registered <= @event_date and e.patient_id = @nor and (p.date_of_death > @event_date or p.date_of_death is null))
	Order by e.date_registered desc) as latestreg
	Where (latestreg.registration_type_concept_id=1335267) and (latestreg.date_registered_end is null or (latestreg.date_registered_end > @event_date))

	-- print @var_date_registered
	-- print @var_date_registered_end

	-- 1=Registered and alive, 2=not registered, 3=Unclear
	set @b = case
		when ((@var_date_registered_end < @var_date_registered)) then 3
		when @var_date_registered is not null then 1
		else 2
	end

	return @b
END