Overview

This section provides the coding and terminology reference layer for iPCV. Together, they standardise how clinical and medication codes are represented, mapped, and governed, so downstream models can use consistent identifiers, descriptions, and lifecycle status (active/deleted/sensitive) across analytics and interoperability use cases.

EMIS maintains an internal clinical coding system within MKB (Medical Knowledge Base), available to GPs in the EMIS Web UI and is updated monthly

MKB contains clinical reference data such as clinical codes (NHS Read v2 & SNOMED CT), drugs (NHS dm+d) including drug ingredients, prescribing decision support alerts and third party data.

Clinical coding models within iPCV provides a mapping between these coding systems to be used to interpret the patient data with national coding system like SNOMED CT

SNOMED CT Concepts and Descriptions

SNOMED CT is a consistent vocabulary for recording patient clinical information across the NHS that helps to ensure data is recorded consistently and accurately.

Concepts represent clinical meanings and phrases that we want to record when entering coded information into the record. Myocardial infarction is an example of a clinical concept.

Descriptions represent the different ways users can describe a clinical concept. The concept of myocardial infarction, for example, can also be described as cardiac infarction or heart attack.

There are two types of descriptions, fully specified name(FSN) and synonym(S). The FSN reflects the description that is the most unambiguous and applicable across multiple contexts. The FSN, whilst unambiguous, will not always be the most appropriate description for the user or context, which is why alternatives exist. Synonyms allow for alternative descriptions for a particular concept. Descriptions that are thought to be the most clinically appropriate way of expressing a concept in the patient record are also highlighted as a preferred term (PT)

Please refer https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/clinical-coding-snomed-ct/ for more details

Models in this group

Model	Description
Codeable Concept	Standardised concept lookup for clinical coding. Provides a single code-level record with key coding representations (for example SNOMED and Read where available) to support consistent interoperability and downstream data.
Clinical Code	Broad clinical code reference model with hierarchy and classification context. Includes parent-child relationships and mapped attributes used to interpret codes consistently across analytics models.
Drug Code	Reference model for EMIS drug preparation codes, including drug term/code metadata and sensitivity flags. Used for medication code enrichment and safe handling of sensitive drug coding.
MKB Drug Pack	Pack-level medication reference for preparations mapped to dm+d and tracked for availability. Includes pack descriptors, units, and pricing fields for pack-level analytics and downstream medication products.
MKB Mapping Attributes	Mapping table linking codes to selected national attribute classifications (notably language and sexual orientation). Used to standardise person-level coded attributes across datasets.
MKB Mapping DMD Preparation	Crosswalk between EMIS preparation codes and dm+d product identifiers. Supports interoperability and medication harmonisation by exposing active and historical mapping states.
MKB Mapping Ethnicity	Ethnicity-focused mapping model linking EMIS ethnicity-related codes to SNOMED identifiers/descriptions. Used for consistent ethnicity coding in demographic and population analysis.
Sensitive SNOMED Code	Lookup of SNOMED-linked codes marked as sensitive (current or historical). Supports governance, privacy controls, and filtering logic where sensitive coded content must be handled explicitly.