SNOMED CT becomes NHS standard

The Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care has officially approved the SNOMED Clinical Terms healthcare terminology as a ‘fundamental standard’.

SNOMED CT is an internationally recognised set of numerical, machine readable codes and human readable descriptions, which can be used to uniquely identify clinical concepts.

Health minister Simon Burns described it as a “common clinical language” and said that adopting it should mean “much clearer and more consistent communication between hospitals and GPs” and “help patients better understand their care records.”

The ISB said the standard defines the rules for administering SNOMED CT in England, but it has not yet mandated its use for healthcare providers.

“Further standards will be submitted to ISB to show that SNOMED CT can be used to support key functions within the NHS, such as the clinical management of the patient within general practice and secondary care,” it said in a statement on its website.

SNOMED CT is owned and managed by the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation and is available in more than 50 countries.

It is already used in the UK – for example by the national Choose and Book and Summary Care Record projects. However, many systems use the older Read Codes, even though they have been gradually discontinued since 2005.

Paul Jones, the Department of Health’s chief technology officer, said: “We will be working hard to support all parts of the healthcare system to adopt this important terminology.”

In an interview with eHealth Insider earlier this summer, Mark Reynolds, head of the ISB, said: “It will be for the NHS and suppliers to decide whether to use it [the new standard].

“The big one is the GP record. If it gets used in the GP record, it will get used everywhere else. It is challenging because Read is so well established, but the standards that come from us will use SNOMED CT and we will promote it that way.”

Matthew Swindells, the chair of BCS Health, said: “This is excellent news for healthcare informatics, as well as for patients. We look forward to seeing this develop over the next few years.”

Jon Lindberg from Intellect said: “The industry is ready to support the introduction of SNOMED, given a clear and costed plan for its implementation and use within IT systems and by healthcare professionals.

“The use of a single terminology will help to harmonise the international market and allow suppliers t operate across boundaries to drive innovation and reduce costs.”

Chief executive of the organisation, Jan Eric-Slot, said the ISB’s approval for use was “excellent news” and it looked forward to working with UK healthcare providers in the future.