COVID-19 Information Standards
COVID-19 and SNOMED CT
Here you can find out the latest on SNOMED CT and COVID-19 to support the care of the individual and further epidemiology studies.
The content provided is relevant to frontline clinical staff, information managers and suppliers, clinical coders and those undertaking research studies.
Note: This page was last updated in September 2021.
COVID-19 Vaccination Codes
SNOMED CT and dm+d content has been developed to support the recording of the COVID-19 vaccination. The detailed terminology content can be found in our COVID-19 Vaccination Codes document. The set includes content to support:
- dm+d coded representations of the initial vaccine products
- SNOMED CT coded representations of significant steps in the vaccination course life-cycle (started, declined, abandoned, DNA etc.), codes to represent the act of dose administration (or not), the identification of high priority patients and adverse or allergic reactions..
We are aware of the following, relevant publications:
COVID-19 SNAP Updates
Our updates provide a current summary of activity relating to COVID-19 in relation to our products and services under the remit of the Terminology and Classifications Delivery Service.
May 2021 UK SNOMED Edition: Advice on competing international and UK codes relating to SARS-COV-2 and COVID-19
This document is aimed at users preparing to implement the May 2021 UK Edition of SNOMED CT. The document:
- Highlights and explains issues regarding overlap between concepts included in the UK Extension and those included in the January 2021 International data relating to the documentation of a number of COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 items, and the potential data quality risks of such overlap.
- Describes steps to mitigate against these risks, including:
- Data modifications undertaken by NHS England
- Promoting awareness and use of published guidance materials
- Additional suggestions and guidance relating to data retrieval
Pathology
The names of tests and the test results relating to COVID-19 have been incorporated into the SNOMED CT clinical extension as part of the 22 April 2020 release. Guidance for end users on these is incorporated in a document produced in collaboration with the PRSB; please note this includes clinical care related terms as well.
In addition, NHS Digital have recently updated the guidance for the national naming, coding and processing of SARS-COV-2 Pathology tests which now contains additional information for Labs and LIMS on naming requestable and reportable items related to SARS-COV-2 Testing.
Changes in v2.5.11:
- Updated to reflect the addition of IgG Antibody Spike Protein detection reportable and results. Please note that this is a pre-emptive change and there are no plans to send these codes via Pillar 2 testing at this time.
Changes in v2.5.10:
- Updated positive and negative result conceptIDs and descriptionIDs for generic Antibody results (ANBY and ANBN) due to alignment with the January 2021 International Release in the May UK Clinical Extension
- Added historical codes section
Changes in v2.5.9:
-
Updated ConceptIDs and DescriptionIDs for new RNA Positive, and RNA Negative SNOMED CT concepts included in the UK SNOMED CT November 2020 Release
- Added Lateral Flow Assay for Antigen testing
Changes in v2.5.8:
- Added “RNA Positive at the Point of Detection” concept and associated elements
Changes in v2.5.7:
-
Updated section 4.3 to remove FSN DescriptionIDs for some rows
- Additional information on the SNOMED CT mapping refset files
Changes in v2.5.4:
- Working with the RCPath and the PSGB we have created a detailed set of requestable and reportable items to help laboratories and LIMS suppliers define COVID19 related data items. These include:
- Requestable Items for Virus detection (including Antigen) and Antibody detection
- Reportable Items for each detection technique
- Permissible values for each result
- Updated guidance on mapping from lab results to SNOMED CT via a set of ‘standardised descriptions’ used to flow the data in the PMIP NHS003 Message
- Updates to SNOMED CT findings to allow filing of results into Primary Care EPR systems
- Updates to the structure of the machine readable mapping table now included in the SNOMED CT UK Clinical Extension as a pair of simple map refsets
This document describes the mapping table changes in the latest version of the guidance
Visit the latest news area of our Pathology and Diagnostics workspace for more information on Pathology and COVID-19.
Management of the long-term effects of COVID-19
Working with NICE, RCGP and SIGN (who have published guidance (including case definitions) on the management of the long-term effects of COVID 19, NHS England and NHS Improvement and PRSB, we have produced an initial set of SNOMED CT codes to support the management of the-long term effects of COVID 19, corresponding to:
- Diagnostic categories
- Referral and signposting
- Assessment instruments and outcome measures
- Community care and self care options
Further guidance on the management of the long-term effects of COVID 19 from both NICE, NHS England and NHS Improvement is expected soon, and we will provide links to these materials when they are published.
Details are as follows:
| Terms | Preferred Term | Fully Specified Name | Notes |
| Diagnostic categories | |||
| Acute COVID-19 Infection | Acute COVID-19 infection | Acute disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection (disorder) | As presented in the NICE reference |
| Ongoing Symptomatic COVID-19 | Ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 | Ongoing symptomatic disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (disorder) | |
| Post-COVID-19 syndrome | Post-COVID-19 syndrome | Post-COVID-19 syndrome (disorder) | |
| Referral and signposting | |||
| Referral to post-COVID assessment clinic | Referral to post-COVID assessment clinic | Referral to post-COVID assessment clinic (procedure) | Based on referral steps described in NHSE document |
| Referral to Your COVID Recovery | Referral to Your COVID Recovery rehabilitation platform | Referral to Your COVID Recovery rehabilitation platform (procedure) | |
| Signposting to Your COVID Recovery | Signposting to Your COVID Recovery | Signposting to Your COVID Recovery (procedure) | |
| Assessment instruments and outcome measures | |||
| Newcastle Post-COVID syndrome Follow-up Screening Questionnaire | Newcastle post-COVID syndrome Follow-up Screening Questionnaire | Newcastle post-COVID syndrome Follow-up Screening Questionnaire (assessment scale) | Based on analysis of assessment instruments described in NHSE document |
| Assessment using Newcastle post-COVID syndrome Follow-up Screening Questionnaire | Assessment using Newcastle post-COVID syndrome Follow-up Screening Questionnaire (procedure) | ||
| COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Screening Tool | C19-YRS (COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Screening) tool | COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Screening tool (assessment scale) | |
| Assessment using C19-YRS (COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Screening) tool | Assessment using COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Screening tool (procedure) | ||
| Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale | PCFS (Post-COVID-19 Functional Status) Scale patient self-report | Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale patient self-report (assessment scale) | |
| Assessment using PCFS (Post-COVID-19 Functional Status) Scale patient self-report | Assessment using Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale patient self-report (procedure) | ||
| PCFS (Post-COVID-19 Functional Status) Scale patient self-report final scale grade | Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale patient self-report final scale grade (observable entity) | ||
| PCFS (Post-COVID-19 Functional Status) Scale structured interview | Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale structured interview (assessment scale) | ||
| Assessment using PCFS (Post-COVID-19 Functional Status) Scale structured interview | Assessment using Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale structured interview (procedure) | ||
| PCFS (Post-COVID-19 Functional Status) Scale structured interview final scale grade | Post-COVID-19 Functional Status Scale structured interview final scale grade (observable entity) | ||
| Community care/Self care existing content | 315241000000102 | Advised to self care (situation) | Already released codes; based on best matches identified to | |
| 781901000000106 |Community care management (procedure) & 737470001 |Primary care management (procedure) | |||
COVID-19 Primary Care EPR Result Processing
Using the mapping logic shown in this diagram, EPR systems should extract the values and map the results to the appropriate Pathology SNOMED CT concepts. You can click on this image for a full size, downloadable and printable version if it this may be of use to you.
The Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) has published guidance for health and care professionals to accompany the release of COVID-19 related UK SNOMED CT codes. This will help health and care professionals manage clinical information to improve patient care. It will also support central data collections to help manage the pandemic and aid research and planning.
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