Kia ora
We are pleased to announce that the April 2026 release of the SNOMED CT New Zealand Edition is now available for use and can be downloaded from our distribution site or accessed via the NZ Health Terminology Service (NZHTS) or SNOMED CT Browser. This release includes several important updates and new content for healthcare systems across Aotearoa New Zealand. Below is a summary of the new content included in this release.
New and updated content
ACC claim reference set
Supports capture of diagnoses required for ACC claim lodgement and processing.
Emergency care reference set s
Chief presenting complaint and diagnosis reference sets updated following the February 2026 clinical reference group review.
Health service type reference set
Updated in partnership with Healthpoint to refine the healthcare services hierarchy.
Hospital in the home reference set
Supports recording of diagnoses for patients receiving hospital in the home care.
Ophthalmology concepts
New concepts developed and promoted to the SNOMED International Edition to support ophthalmology data capture.
Sport related concepts
New concepts developed and promoted to the SNOMED International Edition for use in ACC45 eLodgement FHIR questionnaires.
Purchase Unit Code (PUC) reference sets
S40008 eye procedures and S00008 minor operations reference sets updated for introduction with NCAMP 2026.
CanShare reference sets
Standardised concepts for recording, sharing and querying cancer data.
File naming convention change for simple reference set files
Refer to the release notes for advance notice of a change to the file naming convention for simple reference set files in the release package. This change will come into effect with our July 2026 release.
Release cycle change
From this year we are adding a third release of the SNOMED NZ Edition to bring you all the new content sooner. We’re keeping the April and October releases and adding a July release. And we’re moving our release date from the 1st of the month to the 20th to use the very latest release of the SNOMED International Edition.
After the 1 April 2026 release, our next scheduled release dates are 20 July 2026, 20 October 2026 and 20 April 2027.
Implementers should note that release files may include multiple new effective dates under this model.
For full release notes, technical updates, and known issues, please refer to the official documentation and our website.
As always, we welcome your feedback and questions. For more information on SNOMED CT implementation in New Zealand or if you would like an NZHTS API key to try out and explore, email us at standards@tewhatuora.govt.nz with your choice of API client id for your organisation.
Feel free to reach out at standards@tewhatuora.govt.nz or join the conversation on our standards channel here at eHealth Forum.
Best regards
SNOMED NZ National Release Centre