What is the Bounded Code List?
The term ‘bounded code list’ refers to a subset of the Read codes that have been specified for use within pathology report messages to identify laboratory investigations. This list is formally known as the ‘laboratory messaging subset of the Read codes’. The bounded list came into being as a result of consultation with GP system suppliers as part of the GP-Provider Links Project in 1996. These suppliers were concerned that potentially any Read code could be used within pathology report messages, which made for difficulty in determining where in the patient medical record on a GP system the information in a pathology report should be stored. The agreed solution to this problem was to restrict the codes that might legitimately be used in pathology report messages to a list of codes that solely identify laboratory investigations. Read codes not relating to pathology were excluded from this list, as were codes that both identified a laboratory investigation, and incorporated its result. Th
