'''Read codes''' wereare the standarda [[Medical terminology|clinical terminology]] system usedthat was in widespread use in [[General Practice]] in the United Kingdom beforeuntil 1 Aprilaround 2018, at which pointwhen NHS England embarked on a move awayswitched to instead using [[SNOMED CT]]. Read codes are still in use in Scotland and in England are permitted for use in NHS secondary care settings, such as dentistry and mental health care until 31 March 2020. Read codes support detailed clinical encoding of multiple patient phenomena including: occupation; social circumstances; ethnicity and religion; clinical signs, symptoms and observations; laboratory tests and results; diagnoses; diagnostic, therapeutic or surgical procedures performed; and a variety of administrative items (e.g. whether a screening recall has been sent and by what communication modality, or whether an item of service fee has been claimed). It therefore includes but goes significantly beyond the expressivity of a [[diagnosis code|diagnosis coding]] system.
==History==
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==Production and license==
Both actively maintained versions of the Read codes are nowwere maintained by the UK Terminology Centre, a division within NHS Data Standards and Products (currently in turn a division of [[NHS Connecting for Health]]). Both versions were released biannually, in October and April, under the [[Open Government Licence]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://data.gov.uk/dataset/f262aa32-9c4e-44f1-99eb-4900deada7a4/uk-read-code |title=UK Read Code |website=data.gov.uk |publisher=[[UK Government]] |accessdate=18 March 2020}}</ref>
Both versions are released biannually, in October and April, under the [[Open Government Licence]].
License application, and distribution, are now electronic only via the UKTC [https://www.uktcregistration.nss.cfh.nhs.uk Terminology Reference data Update Distribution] service.
