Terminology and Classifications
The Terminology and Classifications delivery service develops and maintains products that enable health and care information to be recorded, shared and categorised.
About this service
We publish, develop and/or maintain clinical coding systems of which there are two types: terminologies and classifications.
These are used to record or categorise health and social care information into codes that support care delivery, statistical analysis, research and the reimbursement of health and care providers.
The coding systems that fall within the remit of this service are:
- SNOMED CT UK Clinical Edition – a structured clinical vocabulary used by clinicians to digitally capture very detailed and precise clinical information that forms part of the electronic patient record. It has codes for each and every illness, event, symptom, procedure, test, organism, substance and medicine. It supports direct care and management of the patient.
- International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10) – for diagnostic health information for diseases, injuries and cause of death, as well as external causes of injury and poisoning. In hospitals, coding specialists use the classification to consistently categorise health conditions during an episode of care for comparative national statistical purposes, including epidemiology, healthcare improvement, management and policy.
- International Classifications of Diseases for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics, Eleventh Revision (ICD-11) – is the latest WHO revision of the ICD classification which is now a fully digital product. It reflects advances in science, medicine and the latest knowledge of disease treatment and prevention. It will become a mandated information standard for the NHS in England to replace ICD-10 in the next 5 years.
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National Interim Clinical Imaging Procedures (NICIP) – is a set of codes for clinical imaging procedures. NICIP is used by radiologists to record patient clinical imaging procedures used in medical imaging technology and radiology information systems.
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OPCS-4 Intervention and Procedure Classification – classifies surgical procedures and interventions of an episode of care to enable comparison of in-patient and day-case information for national statistics, healthcare improvement, reimbursement, management and policy.
These systems operate in different ways and serve different but complementary purposes.
Benefits
- provides a standardised vocabulary for clinical terms, ensuring consistent communication across different healthcare systems and organisations
- high level of granularity, allowing precise representation of clinical concepts for entering clinical information into an electronic patient record to ensure this can be used by the system e.g. to trigger clinical alerts, support clinical audit, identify patients to call for review, and in radiology information systems for ordering of imaging procedures
- facilitates interoperability by enabling seamless data sharing between different healthcare systems e.g. coded eDischarge letters can be sent to GP practices
- healthcare professionals can create robust clinical decision support rules. These rules enhance patient safety, assist in diagnosis, and guide treatment choices
- improves semantic clarity in clinical documentation. It reduces ambiguity and ensures that healthcare professionals understand the intended meaning of terms
- list of codes and descriptions for the coded and textual representation of clinical imaging procedures in electronic systems in the NHS
- standardised groupings of information into classification codes that can be easily tabulated, aggregated, and sorted for statistical analysis in an efficient and meaningful manner
- business rules and definitions ensures consistent and accurate coding for national data collection and analysis, a prerequisite for secondary uses such as health management. For example, analysis of the general health of population groups and the monitoring of the incidence and prevalence of diseases and other health problems
- supports consistent interpretation and comparison e.g. ICD morbidity data collected in different hospitals nationally, countries or areas and at different times
- classification codes are collected in local Patient Administration Systems for local service planning and delivery and national reporting
Who this service is for
This service is for users of the terminologies and classifications including healthcare professionals, coding specialists, information/data analysts and software suppliers.
What information is available
What we deliver:
- regular updates to the terminologies and classifications, that reflect current medical practice, for use in healthcare software across the NHS
- download area for the terminology and classifications data files, including the data files for dm+d, the dictionary of descriptions and codes which represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS
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a Request Submissions Portal, a public submission process for enhancements to the SNOMED CT UK Clinical Edition, OPCS-4 and NICIP
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mappings between SNOMED CT UK Edition and ICD-10, and OPCS-4 classifications to enable derivation and retrieval of ICD-10 and OPCS-4 data to support data analysis and comparative statistics
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an expert-led terminology and classifications advisory service and a query database for coding staff using ICD-10 or OPCS-4
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definitive source of clinical coding standards in England for classifications (ICD-10 and OPCS-4) using rules and practice guidelines for ensuring that patient diagnosis and procedures are reported accurately and consistently
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online terminology and classifications browsers to view and search the content
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for classifications we provide clinical coding train-the-trainer and train-the auditor courses and training materials to ensure consistent application and quality of coding
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other derivative products, guidance and links to resources to support our users
National usage policy
In England, the following terminologies and classifications are approved information standards published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012:
- SNOMED CT UK Edition
- NICIP, ICD-10 and OPCS-4
These are mandatory standards and a corresponding Information Standards Notice (ISN) provides an overview of the scope and implementation of the standard.
How this service works
The services is available through Delen, the Terminology and Classifications information sharing platform to access product information, databases and tools.
Users can access latest news, developments and publications, plus education and training information.
Status, service level and current usage
This service is live and has been active pre 2005.
Terminology and Classifications is a bronze service which means it is supported between 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays
Roadmap
There is no product roadmap for Terminology and Classifications as the service is running in business as usual.
How to access this service
This service is accessed on the Terminology and Classifications information sharing platform.
Contact us
The following table shows how to contact us about this service.
| Enquiry | Point of contact |
|---|---|
| Live service incident |
National Service Desk Email: [email protected] |
| General enquiries about the service |
Enquiries team Email: [email protected] |
| Senior responsible officer (SRO) |
Lynn Bracewell Email: [email protected] |
Further information
SNOMED CT is a structured clinical vocabulary for use in an electronic health record. It is the most comprehensive and precise clinical health terminology product in the world.
dm+d is a dictionary of descriptions and codes which represent medicines and devices in use across the NHS. It must be used when electronic systems exchange or share information about medicines relating directly to a patient's care.
We are making a series of changes to the two digital terminologies used in health and care to improve efficiency and patient safety.
The NICIP code set enables accurate ordering of medical procedures and direct commissioning of services.
A UK statistical classification of interventions and procedures. It's used for national statistics in the 4 constituent countries of the UK.
A World Health Organization statistical classification and the global standard for diagnostic health information. It's used for morbidity and mortality statistics in the 4 constituent countries of the UK.
The NHS Digital SNOMED CT Browser provides ways to browser and search the SNOMED CT UK Edition.
The NHS Classifications Browser allows you to browse and search the ICD-10 and OPCS-4 statistical classifications and contains links to the current NHS England National Clinical Coding Standards.
Find a product by name and/or supplier name.
Submit change requests for terminologies and classifications released by NHS England.
Search items, releases and news articles.
A terminology solution to help healthcare IT systems speak the same language, and make mapping codes between organisations faster and easier.
A non-technical guide to building software that deals with clinical coding, classifications and terminology within the NHS in England.
Subscribe to our Terminology and Classifications news for latest updates about our products and services, information about SNOMED CT implementation and release updates, SNOMED International developments, and career opportunities.
How and why we process your data within Terminology and Classification systems, and your rights.
If you're looking for content that we used to host, visit the National Archives website.
Last edited: 3 June 2025 5:10 pm