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ICD-10 Classification

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) is a comprehensive classification of causes of morbidity and mortality. All inpatient episodes and attendances that contain diagnoses must be recorded to the mandated version of ICD. The ICD-10 refers to the tenth revision.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes and distributes the ICD-10 classification.  WHO is the copyright holder of ICD-10 which is used under licence for United Kingdom government purposes.

Below the ICD-10 versions and the financial year mandated for use are listed.  The implementation date for each version will always be 1 April.

Financial Year ICD-10 version mandated for use

The NHS Classifications Service provides the national products and services to support the use of the ICD-10 classification for UK Government purposes.

The updates that create the ICD-10 4th Edition published by the World Health Organisation have been approved by the Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care (ISB) for NHS and NHS system supplier implementation on 1 April 2012. Further information about this requirement can be found on the ISB website.

ICD-10 is a statistical tool that requires adherence to and application of specified definitions and rules to enable accurate, consistent and comprehensive capture of data for secondary purposes which is undertaken by health informatics professionals – clinical coders.

ICD-10 is not intended or designed for point of care recording by a clinician. The standard clinical terminology SNOMED CT is for use by a clinician and is the data standard for use by the NHS and NHS system suppliers approved by ISB to support interoperability of electronic health records.

Cross-maps provide the link between SNOMED CT and the mandated versions of the NHS data Standards ICD-10 (diagnosis) and OPCS-4 (intervention and procedures) to support capture of data for secondary purposes.