New NHS Pathology strategy highlights HL7 as key standard

17 October 2008

In the recently published document "Evidence, safety and quality - an information strategy for NHS Pathology" it is stated:

The NHS has adopted three key standards for IT interoperability:

• SNOMED CT for the unambiguous identification of clinical concepts such as diseases, findings, and procedures.
• HL7 for the exchange of messages between systems from different manufacturers.
• The NHS Number for the unambiguous identification of patients.

This is an excellent clear endorsement of HL7 and associated technologies from the NHS.

See the Connecting for Health Pathology pages for background.

Also remember that there are tutorials on both SNOMED CT and HL7 at the upcoming conference.