Increasing SNOMED International description length limits

Following the Delen news article on the proposal to increase description length limits, SNOMED International has published a briefing note, available on Delen:

MF Briefing Note - Conclusion on Increasing Description Type length limits

A blog post with further information is also available on the SNOMED International website:

Blog: SNOMED International concludes community feedback period on proposed description character limit increase and finalizes next steps

As SNOMED International has outlined, the change to the description length limits will be implemented in the 1 July 2026 International Edition release. It will take effect in the October 2026 SNOMED CT UK release.

If you have any questions or concerns, email information.standards@nhs.net.

Aligning the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension model with SNOMED International

Further to the news on Delen regarding changes to the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension, NHS England will go live with the phase 1 changes in release 41.0.0, due for publication on 1 October 2025.

For more detail about this work, see NHS England's updating the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension model page.

If you have questions or concerns, contact: nhsdigital.ukmeds@nhs.net

Test files available for SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension model alignment

This is an update to the Delen news published on 1 July 2025. The test files for the phase 1 changes to the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension are now available. The files and supporting information are on Delen.

NHS England now plans to go live with these changes in October 2025, instead of September 2025 as previously communicated.

For more detail about this work, see NHS England's Updating the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension model page.

If you have questions or concerns, contact nhsdigital.ukmeds@nhs.net by 5pm on Friday 8 August 2025.

Aligning the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension model with SNOMED International

NHS England has added more detail and examples to its Updating the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension model page. This follows feedback from the recent user survey.

The plan is to:

• release a test file with the Phase 1 changes for SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension users in July 2025
• go live with the Phase 1 changes in the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension in September 2025

If the September timeframe is likely to cause issues, or if you would like to discuss this work, contact: nhsdigital.ukmeds@nhs.net

We will share another update when the test file is available.