Terminology products
NHS Digital is responsible for the UK management of SNOMED CT, the Read Codes and other products to support the implementation of terminology, including tools and derivative products.
NHS Digital maintains the NHS Dictionary of Medicines and Devices (dm+d) in partnership with the NHS Business Service Authority.
As part of the national strategy to move to a single terminology across health and care, NHS Digital is in the process of withdrawing the Read Codes. The Standardisation Committee for Care gave notice in December 2014 of this planned withdrawal. Read more on the retirement of Read Version 2 and Clinical Terms Version 3.
News and release notices
SNOMED CT human-readable subset - UK Drug Extension
A new release of item SNOMED CT human-readable subset - UK Drug Extension is available.
SNOMED CT UK Query Table and History Substitution Table
A new release of item SNOMED CT UK Query Table and History Substitution Table is available.
UK Drug bonus files
A new release of item UK Drug bonus files is available.
SNOMED CT UK Monolith Edition, RF2: Snapshot
A new release of item SNOMED CT UK Monolith Edition, RF2: Snapshot is available.
SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension, RF2
New releases are available:
Have your say on plans to remove Concept Non Current indicators from SNOMED CT
SNOMED International plans to stop using Concept Non Current (CNC) indicators in the International Edition of SNOMED CT from 1 January 2026.
At the moment, CNC indicators are added to active descriptions when a concept becomes inactive. Under the new plan, this will no longer happen. All current CNC indicators will also be made inactive, but they will remain in place as inactive components.
You can read more in the SNOMED International document:
Concept Non Current indicators – Notice of Deprecation
This change will affect SNOMED CT systems that use CNC indicators. It will first appear in the April 2026 UK release.
SNOMED International is asking for feedback on this proposal by
30 May 2025.
To respond, fill in their feedback form:
Concept Non Current Indicators Deprecation - Feedback Form
If you have questions about the proposal, email:
information.standards@nhs.net
Read older news and release notices in the news archive.