NHS England’s Terminology and Classifications Delivery Service has shared updated details of SNOMED International’s planned changes to Fully Specified Name and Synonym descriptions, which propose an extension to the current maximum limit from 255 to 4,096 characters.
In a blog post accompanying the announcement, SNOMED International called for feedback, launching a community consultation to understand more about how the move may impact the community, and recognising that it could be “disruptive” to implementers “who have coded fixed length limits into their systems”.
NHSE highlighted that the proposal “will not impact the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d)”, adding that assessments are underway to check whether the proposed change will impact Fully Specified Names (FSN) created in the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension, and that it is not expected to impact Preferred Terms (PT) in the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension.
Accompanying the announcement, SNOMED International noted that the current date for implementation of the change has been set at January 2026, coming into effect in the April 2026 UK release, and that currently less than 20 existing International Edition terms have been identified for an increase beyond 255 characters.
NHSE has encouraged any stakeholders who may have questions or concerns to contact SNOMED International directly at release@snomed.org, copying in information.standards@nhs.net to help NHSE maintain visibility of UK stakeholder feedback.
Digital from NHS England
In December, NHSE commenced a review of digital clinical safety standards, seeking input from a range of stakeholders across the NHS, as well as IT manufacturers and those involved in digital risk assessment. The review is of the DCB0129 and DCB0160 digital clinical safety standards for manufacturers of health IT systems and organisations that use health IT systems to ensure they remain “up-to-date, practical and aligned with the latest advancements in healthcare technology and clinical practice”.
Back in November, NHS England published guidance for integrated care boards around assessing the effectiveness of information and using it insightfully to streamline performance and support continuous improvement. The guidance highlights the role of using information in this way to enable ICBs to meet statutory duties, detect early warning signs around quality or performance issues, and ensure care provided is continuously improving and meeting the needs of the population. NHSE notes the use of “meaningful information” will help boards to understand their populations health needs and identify inequalities; set out strategic plans and identify milestones to assess delivery; ask “uncomfortable questions” about variations in quality of care across the ICB; and more.
NHSE also published a letter penned by NHSE’s chief delivery officer and national director for system development, highlighting a need for optimisation of the NHS system, “greater clarity” around what every part of the NHS is accountable for, and emphasising intentions to follow the Darzi report guidance to shift from analogue to digital methods. Four actions are set out to guide a refresh of the current operating framework: to simplify and reduce duplication with clarified roles and responsibilities; to shift resources, time and energy to neighbourhood health; to devolve decision-making to those best-placed to make changes with clarification on the role of integrated care partnerships; and to enable leaders to manage complexity at local level.
