Written question asked by Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 17 October 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 16 November 2001. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Friday, 16 November 2001 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what arrangements are in place for independent scrutiny and evaluation of the SNOMED system; if the results of that scrutiny will be published; and if he will make a statement. - (Holding answer 22 October 2001).

Answer: Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place for independent scrutiny and evaluation of the SNOMED system; if the results of that scrutiny will be published; and if he will make a statement. [9400] Ms Blears: [holding answer 22 October 2001]: Agreement has been reached with the College of American Pathologists that a programme of formative evaluation work should be carried out in the national health service, as part of the United Kingdom contribution to the development of the SNOMED clinical terms. This will run through 2002-03. A further independent evaluation will be undertaken and plans are being drawn up for a panel to oversee this process. The SNOMED clinical terms will also be subjected to the NHS information standards approval process, which is overseen by the NHS Information Standards Board. The results of these evaluations will be published.

Secondary information