NHS Drug and Device Terminology Review

Overview

The NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) is the NHS choice for recording details of medicines and devices in the electronic patient record and is the medicines standard approved by the Information Standards Board (ISB).

‘The Power of Information’ (The Department of Health's information strategy http://informationstrategy.dh.gov.uk/ ) states that to allow information to flow around the (care) system well all systems should use the same terminology, and for medicines information this terminology will be dm+d. The use of a single standard for recording details of medicines and devices is a fundamental and vital means of enabling diverse systems to communicate this data between users and patients in a safe and consistent way.

The target date outlined in the ISB standard for moving to dm+d is 30 June 2017. The UK Terminology Centre (UKTC) is committed to supporting migration to dm+d and helping system suppliers achieve compliance with the standard by this date.

Why your views matter

The key aims of this review are to:

• ascertain the current barriers to migration to dm+d
• understand the reliance on legacy NHS drug dictionaries (i.e. the Read Code Drug and Appliance Dictionary (DAAD))

The key objectives of this review are to:

• ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively on products that are required and in use within the NHS by understanding the level and nature of use of drug dictionaries used within, and maintained by, the NHS
• inform the Government’s commitment to reduce the number of terminologies in use, to allow better integration between systems and across health and social care, thus enabling better information to support care and improvement of care
• understand users’ plans and timescales to move to the preferred terminology dm+d.

What we have done so far

In 2012, a survey was circulated as part of a preliminary consultation to the same audience. The aim of this survey was to understand the usage of dm+d and the Read Code DAAD. This consultation follows on from the preliminary consultation.

What will happen next

The consultation will run for a three month period, and will be open for completion from 1 July 2013 to 30 September 2013.

Following the online consultation, the UKTC will analyse the findings and a report will be produced for the UK Terminology Centre Governance Board, who will subsequently publish the summary of findings.

There will be no immediate change following this review; however the information gathered will be used to inform maintenance of legacy products and resources as well as the Government routemap for information standards.

What happens next

Following this online consultation, the UKTC will analyse the findings and a report will be produced for the UK Terminology Centre Governance Board, who will subsequently publish the summary of findings.

There will be no immediate change following this review; however the information gathered will be used to inform maintenance of legacy products and resources as well as the Government route-map for information standards.