Read code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:58, 8 May 2020

Revision as of 19:36, 2 January 2021

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===Read version 1 (4-byte Read)===

The first version was developed in the early 1980s by [[Dr James Read]], a Loughborough general medical practitioner.<ref name="BCS">{{cite web |vauthors=Bentley T, Price C, Brown P |title=Structural and lexical features of successive versions of the Read Codes |url=http://www.phcsg.org/main/pastconf/camb96/readcode.htm |work=The Proceedings of the 1996 Annual Conference of The Primary Health Care Specialist Group of the [[British Computer Society]] |date=13–15 September 1996 |accessdateaccess-date=2010-04-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829143656/http://www.phcsg.org/main/pastconf/camb96/readcode.htm |archivedatearchive-date=29 August 2010 }}</ref> The scheme was structured similarly to [[International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems|ICD-9]]:

* each code was composed of four consecutive characters: first character 0-9, A-Z (excepting I and O), remaining three characters 0-9, A-Z/a-z (excepting i,I,o and O) plus up to three trailing period '.' characters

* the relative position of one code to another was represented through the code itself: [J...] is the common ancestor of all other codes with 'J' as the first character, and [J1..] in turn the common ancestor of all codes beginning 'J1'.

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===NHS mandation===

In 1988 a joint conference of the [[Royal College of General Practitioners]] and the [[British Medical Association]] recommended standardisation of the system in general practice [[Electronic medical record|Electronic Medical Record (EMR)]] systems and the [[National Health Service]] mandated this in April 1999.<ref name="NHS-CfH">{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions about Clinical Terms (The Read Codes) |url=http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/data/readcodes/faqs/index_html#1 |publisher=NHS Connecting for Health |accessdateaccess-date=2010-04-17}}</ref> The intellectual property of the codes themselves was purchased outright by the UK government, and they have therefore been published under [[Crown Copyright]] ever since.

===Read version 3 (Clinical Terms Version 3 or 'CTV3')===

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==Production and license==

In the 1990s the Read codes were released on a quarterly basis for clinical terms, and monthly for drugs and appliances.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Robinson |first1=David |last2=Schulz |first2=Erich |last3=Brown |first3=Philip |last4=Price |first4=Colin |title= Updating the Read Codes. User-interactive Maintenance of a Dynamic Clinical Vocabulary |journal=Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association |volume=4 |issue=6 |date=1997 |pages=465–472 |doi=10.1136/jamia.1997.0040465|pmid=9391934 |pmc=61264 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Laterly, they were maintained by the UK Terminology Centre, a division within NHS Data Standards and Products (in turn a division of [[NHS Connecting for Health]]) and 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 |date=24 March 2015 |publisher=[[UK Government]] |accessdateaccess-date=18 March 2020}}</ref>

License application, and distribution, are now electronic only via the UKTC [https://www.uktcregistration.nss.cfh.nhs.uk Terminology Reference data Update Distribution] service.

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==Deprecation and withdrawal==

In preparation for the whole English health system moving to SNOMED CT by April 2020, [[primary care]] systems were to have adopted the new [[nomenclature]] by April 2018.<ref>{{cite web|title=SNOMED CT Implementation in Primary Care|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/SNOMED-CT-implementation-in-primary-care|publisher=NHS Digital|accessdateaccess-date=1 October 2017}}</ref> Secondary care, including Mental Health and Dentistry, was mandated to move to SNOMED by April 2020.<ref>{{cite web|title=SNOMED CT |url=https://digital.nhs.uk/snomed-ct|publisher=NHS Digital |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001213917/https://digital.nhs.uk/snomed-ct|archivedatearchive-date=1 October 2017}}</ref>

The former Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care (ISB) set December 2010 as the deprecation date for Read version 2, but did not set a date for its withdrawal at the time.<ref>{{cite web|title=Information Standards Notice – Deprecation|url=http://www.hscic.gov.uk/media/15868/1553disn/pdf/1553disn.pdf|publisher=Standardisation Committee for Care Information|accessdateaccess-date=15 May 2015}}</ref> In August 2014 the ISB's successor, the Standardisation Committee for Care Information (SCCI), formalised the withdrawal time frame of Read version 2: A final updated release for Read version 2 is to be made available on 1 April 2016, and will be withdrawn completely on 1 April 2020.<ref name=HSCIC-Read>{{cite web|title=Deprecation of Read Version 2 and Clinical Terms Version 3|url=http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/data/uktc/readcodes|publisher=Health & Social Care Information Centre|accessdateaccess-date=15 May 2015}}</ref>

The deprecation and withdrawal time frame for Read version 3 was also agreed by the SCCI in August 2014. The deprecation date was set at 1 September 2014,<ref>{{cite web|title=Information Standards Notice – Deprecation|url=http://www.hscic.gov.uk/media/15869/1552disn/pdf/1552disn.pdf|publisher=Standardisation Committee for Care Information (SCCI)|accessdateaccess-date=15 May 2015}}</ref> with a final updated release for 1 April 2018, and complete withdrawal on 1 April 2020.<ref name=HSCIC-Read />

The Read Codes Drug and Appliance Dictionary (DAAD) was published for the final time on 1 April 2016, with data since being pulled from public circulation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Read Codes|url=https://digital.nhs.uk/article/1104/Read-Codes|publisher=NHS Digital|accessdateaccess-date=1 October 2017}}</ref> The intent of [[NHS Digital]] is to migrate users to the Drugs and Medicines Dictionary (dm+d), which itself is based upon SNOMED CT.

==See also==