SNOMED set 31 December deadline for new SDO

Plans to create a SNOMED CT Standards Development Organisation by the end of the year have taken a step forward following a successful meeting of the potential charter members in Copenhagen last month.

Representatives from Australia, Denmark, Lithuania, New Zealand and the UK all met with the College of American Pathologists (CAP) to discuss the creation of a standards development organisation (SDO) to maintain and promote the SNOMED CT clinical.

SNOMED CT is a standardised healthcare terminology including comprehensive coverage of diseases, clinical findings, therapies, procedures and outcomes. The terminology is one of the core standards to be mandated by Connecting for Health (CfH) in all the systems of the NHS IT modernisation programme.

The meeting has resulted in an agreement from all parties in principle to move forward together toward their common goal of founding the SNOMED SDO.

Dr Grant Kelly, CfH’s clinical lead for the SNOMED Structured Electronic Records Programme said: “I am delighted we have a confirmed way forward with SNOMED CT as the truly international terminology.

“This agreement safeguards and future-proofs the investments and developments we are putting into ensuring better patient care by using SNOMED CT-structured electronic record systems.”

CfH partnered with the CAP to create the new organisation in November 2005 . A development proposal for the new standards organisation was sent out to healthcare information technology leaders worldwide to gauge their potential interest in becoming charter members and establishing SNOMED CT as a global, worldwide clinical terminology.

The aim is to create an international standards organisation that will enable countries and national authorities to take a lead role in the development, ownership and maintenance of SNOMED CT.

At the Copenhagen meeting, the representatives agreed to the goal of completing the necessary details by 31 December 2006, as well as laying down the following conditions before a contract could be finalised:

• The terms for transfer of the intellectual property from the CAP to the SDO;

• The establishment of Denmark as the country of incorporation for the SDO as a not-for profit Danish Society;

• The next steps for the creation of the legal entity that will become the SNOMED SDO;

• The SNOMED CT intellectual property rights that will be transferred from the CAP to the SNOMED SDO at the time of formal creation;

• The structure of the financial model for the new organisation;

• Agreement of roles and activities for staff of the SDO;

• Further agreement on the role of CAP as the initial Support Organization for the

SNOMED SDO; and

• A process and timeline for moving forward to resolve the remaining questions, and to complete those tasks necessary for the formation of the SNOMED SDO.

In November, Richard Granger, chief executive of CfH, said: "SNOMED CT provides the first opportunity for global standards of healthcare terminology and therefore data. The adoption and co-development of this standard by governments around the world presents the opportunity for significant health and efficiency benefits."

When implemented in software applications, SNOMED CT represents clinically-relevant information consistently, reliably and comprehensively as an integral part of producing electronic health records.

Dr Roger Tackley, member of SNOMED International Standards Board added: “There will be wide ranging benefits to patient care in having SNOMED CT as an open international standard for terminology in clinical records.

“I am involved in an American-born system within the UK and hope that these clinical records will ultimately be shareable across all country boundaries. It is essential that the UK is involved in this global initiative.”

The proposals have been welcomed by representatives from various medical societies eager to embrace the new language.

Anne Casey, adviser in informatics standards to the Royal College of Nursing said: “As the representative to SNOMED for the nursing profession I strongly support this development. International collaboration on content development has been limited to US and UK nurses and we are already seeing benefits from contributions by European nurses in anticipation of the SDO.

“As an open standard with the proposed infrastructure supporting timely and clinically focused enhancements, we will be in a better position to realise the clinical practice benefits of SNOMED in the long term.”

Marcel Pooke, national representative for the allied health professions said: “This gives us all a positive and clear step forward for the future in the development and implementation of vital clinical information systems. We are sure that allied health professionals and their patients across the globe will benefit from this new and exciting development in clinical terminology.”

Dr Nick Booth, of the Joint GP IT committee added: “SNOMED is a fundamental building block of a multi-disciplinary and multi-organisational care record service.”

The clinician leading the UK participation in the SDO, Professor Martin Severs was pleased with the events of the meeting and the UK’s participation in making SNOMED a global clinical terminology.

“The initiative by NHS CfH, to have a truly global terminology standard owned by the countries of the world and focused on the health of citizens is now both desirable and feasible. I am delighted the UK is a positive and valued partner with other countries in this endeavour.”