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Story URL: http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,11004996,00.htm

UK health service gives Read Codes a second chance

By Polly Raymond

Published: Wednesday 07 October 1998

The NHS Executive is rethinking its strategy towards the controversial Read Codes because the UK health service can't cope without them, according to a source close to the situation.

The Read Codes were plunged into scandal last year when the Public Accounts Committee - a public services watchdog - said the procurement process used to buy them was corrupt. It claimed that James Read was not impartial to the decision to purchase the system as he was the owner of the company that develops the codes and also sits on the NHS Executive (NHSE).

The coding system - which classifies and orders all healthcare information to bring more efficiency into the NHS - will now be resurrected because its value cannot be ignored, according to the source. "Because of the shared anxiety about money, and a perceived need to get coding moving, the NHSE is now exploring a collaborative effort to build on Read Codes," he said.

The latest efforts revolve around a plan to combine the Read Codes with the American version of the technology, Snomed. This coding system brings classification capabilities to Read Codes and its expected that the combined result will be an even more efficient system.

No one at the Department of Health was available to comment on the Read Codes or whether the corruption scandal has now been pushed aside. However, one spokeswoman did say that announcements on the subject are imminent.