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A coded thesaurus of clinical terms representing the clinical terminology system used in general practice. Read Codes have two versions: version 2 (v2) and version 3 (CTV3 or v3), which are the basic means by which clinicians record patient findings and procedures.
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Read Codes are a coded thesaurus of clinical terms. They have been used in the NHS since 1985. There are two versions: version 2 (v2) and version 3 (CTV3 or v3). Both versions provide a standard vocabulary for clinicians to record patient findings and procedures, in health and social care IT systems across primary and secondary care.
Information Standard Notices 1552 and 1553 confirmed the schedule for the retirement of Read v2 and v3 (CTV3) clinical terminologies. The last updated release of Read v2 was April 2016, and there will be no further update to CTV3 following the April 2018 release.
Requests for changes to either Read v2 or CTV3 can no longer be submitted - requests for new concepts should be submitted via the SNOMED CT product menu of the request submission portal. You will need to register the first time you use the portal.
The final updates of Read v2 and CTV3, together with the UK Read Browser, will continue to be downloadable via TRUD until 2020.
Organisations should be well underway with their preparations to ensure they can use the dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) for medicines and SNOMED CT for clinical content.
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