UK Naming Systems

What is a NamingSystem?

A FHIR NamingSystem is a URL that acts as a well known "name" for the type of another concept, such as an NHS Number (an identifier) or a SNOMED CT code (codesystem).

The name is a machine readable unique string for the scheme of an identifier or codesystem. When a concept is used in FHIR, such as an identifier in a Patient resource, there needs to be a way to show that it is from the set of NHS Numbers and not some other type of identifier. This concept type is a URL, that acts as a name, and it is used in identifier.system or coding.system. FHIR NamingSystem URLs are equivalent to OIDs used in earlier versions of HL7. OIDs can still be used but are deprecated for use in FHIR.

Note

This guide is a catalogue of the UK naming URLs. Each name entry is held in a FHIR NamingSystem resource.These resources are only needed as documentation within this catalogue. It is only the naming URL itself that is used in actual FHIR data. Software systems only need to use the correct URL, and don’t need to directly deal with the NamingSystem resources.

NamingSystem Index Tables

The index tables list the following information which is explained below:

Name A human readable name for the NamingSystem

URL A URL that is carried in the coding.system element for NamingSystems of type codesystem or identifier.system for NamingSystems of type identifier within a FHIR instance used for data exchange

Description The description of the NamingSystem

Status

The status of the NamingSystem

active - a NamingSystem that is still actively maintained
retired - a NamingSystem that is no longer maintained, however is still useable with a FHIR instance for data exchange. For example, for historic information.

Kind

The type of NamingSystem which MUST be a value from:

This code system http://hl7.org/fhir/namingsystem-type defines the following codes:

Code	Display	Definition
codesystem	Code System	The naming system is used to define concepts and symbols to represent those concepts; e.g. UCUM, LOINC, NDC code, local lab codes, etc.
identifier	Identifier	The naming system is used to manage identifiers (e.g. license numbers, order numbers, etc.).
root	Root	The naming system is used as the root for other identifiers and naming systems.

Licensing and Publisher

Copyright © 2021+ HL7 UK Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. HL7® FHIR® standard Copyright © 2011+ HL7 The HL7® FHIR® standard is used under the FHIR license. You may obtain a copy of the FHIR license at https://www.hl7.org/fhir/license.html.
Developed and authored by UK Core Development Team and published by HL7 UK.