The Health Information Standards Office (HISO) this week released the New Zealand Medicines Terminology Recommendation Report.

A medicines terminology standardises the identification, naming, and describing of medicine information. It is used to identify medicine components, therapeutic groups, and the relationships between them.

The Report's principal recommendation is to "adopt and adapt" the Australian Medicines Terminology that will eventually form an extension to the international Systematised Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), which New Zealand is licensed to use due to its membership in the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation. SNOMED CT is considered to be the most comprehensive, multilingual clinical healthcare terminology in the world.

Currently, groups and organisations within the New Zealand health and disability sector use a wide variety of electronic medicines information, including the PHARMAC Schedule, the Pharmacy Guild Pharmacode product catalogue, and Medsafe's database of medicines and published datasheets. However, these sources do not fully align because there is currently no standardised approach to medical or pharmaceutical descriptions and coding.

A medicines terminology used throughout the New Zealand health and sector will help to address this issue and will contribute to safer medication practice. A medicines terminology also supports a range of sector-led initiatives, including e-Prescribing, the Safe Medication Management Programme, and the development of a national formulary.

Graeme Osborne, Chair of the Health Information Strategy Advisory Committee (HISAC), says "the agreement on a single medicines terminology for New Zealand is a critical foundation step for key sector strategies based on the safe sharing of patient information. Patients and clinicians can have confidence that medications will be described in a single, consistent manner."

The Report, commissioned by the then Health Information Strategy Action Committee and developed by the HISO Expert Advisory Committee on Medicines Terminology, recommends setting up a formal project in New Zealand to establish the terminology in several stages. The Report also recommends that the project be governed by New Zealand-based experts with formal linkages to the body responsible for the Australian Medicines Terminology.

In line with these recommendations, a project to establish and implement a New Zealand Universal List of Medicines (NZULM) is progressing under the Safe Medication Management Programme, with sponsorship from the Ministry of Health, Medsafe, PHARMAC and the Pharmacy Guild.

Paul Cressey, Chair of the NZULM Project Steering Group, says "the support for this project is universal and unprecedented. It is an opportunity for the sector to collaboratively deliver a solution that will really make a difference to patient safety, efficiency and cost."

The New Zealand Medicines Terminology RecommendationReport is available at:http://www.hisac.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexcm/hisac2-standards-approved-hiso10024