Common vocabulary introduced to help England drive efficiencies and improve patient care

NEWSWIRE:  November 4, 2016

DATELINE: England

A new vocabulary of SNOMED Clinical Terms is underway for patient records to help drive primary care efficiencies and improve patient care.

The new terminology according to the National Information Board (NIB) will enable diagnoses, symptoms, drugs and medical devices to be captured on records in a “clear, unambiguous and consistent way”.

NHS says that it’s critical for all health and care providers use the same electronic dictionary for electronic records as the healthcare system strives to become ‘paperless’.  This initiative will save thousands of hours of effort and millions of pounds, says NHS Digital.

The terminology will replace ‘Read Codes’,  which are due to be phased out by April 2018.  A notice under the Health and Social Care Act has been added declaring that the input vocabulary must be adopted by all GPs and systems used by general practice service providers before 1 April 2018.

Read the full article here.