Written question asked by Vicky Foxcroft (Labour) on Thursday, 10 March 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 March 2022. It was answered by Gillian Keegan (Conservative) on Tuesday, 15 March 2022 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

ME/CFS: Medical Records

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome patients are correctly coded by GPs at the point of diagnosis.

Answer: The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is the structured clinical vocabulary for use in an electronic health record. It is a contractual requirement for all National Health Service healthcare providers in England to use SNOMED CT for capturing clinical terms, including diagnoses, within electronic patient record systems. Using SNOMED CT, all content for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is contained within a single overarching code, with linked codes for mild, moderate and severe forms. These can be used by all NHS healthcare providers, including general practitioners.

Secondary information