Addition of GTINs to SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension

The scope of this work is the GTIN file and its link to the dm+d AMPPs. It covers both medicine AMPPs and appliance AMPPs.

Refset population

All AMPP to GTIN links from the f_gtin2_0ddmmyy.xml will be added as members of two new Simple map refsets.

‘All’ map refset

The ’all’ map refset will include all AMPP to GTIN maps from dm+d. If the map is in the dm+d  f_gtin2_0ddmmyy.xml file, then it will be an Active member of the map refset. 

Name of refset to be confirmed, proposed term:

• National Health Service dictionary of medicines and devices SNOMED CT to Global Trade Item Number all simple map reference set (foundation metadata concept)
• NHS dm+d (dictionary of medicines and devices) SNOMED CT to GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) all simple map reference set

Each statement in the f_gtin2_0ddmmyy.xml will generate an Active member row in the refset. 

‘Current’ map refset

The ‘current’ map refset will include all AMPP to GTIN maps from dm+d. The difference from the ‘all’ map refset is that for the ‘current’ map refset the ‘ENDDT’ (end date) field from dm+d will be used to determine if an AMPP to GTIN map will be an Active or Inactive member of the refset. 

Name of refset to be confirmed, proposed term:

• National Health Service dictionary of medicines and devices SNOMED CT to Global Trade Item Number current simple map reference set (foundation metadata concept)
• NHS dm+d (dictionary of medicines and devices) SNOMED CT to GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) current simple map reference set

Each statement in the f_gtin2_0ddmmyy.xml will generate a member row in the refset. 

The STARTDT and ENDDT will be used to determine if a member row is Active or Inactive. 

1. ENDDT is <null> = Active
2. ENDDT is not <null> = Inactive
    

Initial population

All AMPPID to GTIN links in the dm+d f_gtin2_0ddmmyy.xml file need to be populated in SNOMED CT. The rules around how to handle End dates will be applied during the initial import for the ‘current’ map refset. This does mean some members may be inactive at the point of first release in SNOMED CT for the ‘current’ map refset.

Further information

The SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension is released every 4 weeks on a Wednesday, whereas dm+d is released weekly on a Monday. As a result, GTIN information may differ between the two terminologies at any given time due to the difference in release schedules.

The Start date <STARTDT> and End date <ENDDT> are not populated in SNOMED CT.

They are used to calculate if a given AMPPID-GTIN map is an Active or Inactive member of the simple map refset.

Quarter 1 2026: Announcement of planned work and user survey

This work is planned to go-live in Quarter 3 2026. Further details, including specific dates, will be published closer to the time.

NHS England plans to release a user survey for SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension users once the data has gone live to help us understand what use cases users have for this information.

Further information will be shared once available.

If you would like to discuss this work further, contact [email protected].