The GPS supports the use of SNOMED CT identifiers in situations where clinical information needs to be shared, interpreted, or retained across organisational, national, or licensing boundaries. The following use cases describe what the GPS enables, rather than how it is implemented.
Across all use cases, the GPS enables:
Use of SNOMED CT identifiers in non-Member countries
Consistent interpretation of shared clinical information
Interoperability across licensing and national boundaries
The GPS is designed to support exchange and interpretation, not semantic processing or clinical decision support.
The GPS supports continuity of care in global contexts by providing a common, license-safe representation of clinical information.
This use case applies when:
Patients receive care from multiple organisations or countries
Clinical information must remain understandable over time
Data needs to be exchanged across heterogeneous systems
The GPS supports shared understanding of clinical information while respecting the SNOMED CT licensing model.
Clinical information recorded in a SNOMED CT Member country is shared with a healthcare provider or organisation in a non-Member country.
This use case applies when:
A patient moves between countries
Care is transferred from a licensed environment to an unlicensed one
Clinical summaries or referrals are exchanged internationally
The GPS enables the receiving organisation to access and understand SNOMED CT identifiers included in the shared data without requiring a SNOMED CT license.
Hospital discharge summaries sent to community care services abroad
International patient summaries accompanying travellers or migrants
Cross-border referrals for specialist care
Healthcare organisations in non-Member countries record and share clinical information using SNOMED CT identifiers provided through the GPS.
This use case applies when:
SNOMED CT licensing is not available
A common clinical language is needed for exchange
Systems are being developed or modernised incrementally
The GPS allows SNOMED CT identifiers to be used for consistent representation of clinical information, even where full SNOMED CT access is not available.
Primary care or outpatient services in low- and middle-income countries
Community or mobile health services
National programmes adopting international standards progressively
A healthcare organisation in a non-Member country receives clinical data encoded using SNOMED CT identifiers.
This use case applies when:
Clinical information is received from international partners
Patients present with records from other countries
Emergency or humanitarian care is provided across borders
The GPS enables the receiving organisation to store, display, and interpret the identifiers safely and consistently.
Emergency care for international patients
Humanitarian or disaster response
Ongoing care based on records from external health systems
Last updated
