The NHS is full of acronyms and while we will always try to spell out any acronyms we use on the website, we thought this page may be helpful to you in other situations.
This glossary is an ongoing project so, if you have any acronyms that you would like to add, please suggest them on the feedback form at the bottom of this page. We will include all those that are suitable on our website.
| AAR | After Action Review |
| ADLs | Activities of Daily Living |
| AfC | Agenda for Change |
| AHP | Allied Health Professional |
| AHSC | Academic Health Science Centre |
| AHSN | Academic Health Science Network |
| AMHP | Approved Mental Health Professional |
| AMR | Antimicrobial resistance |
| ASD | Autisitic Spectrum Disorder |
| BAF | Board Assurance Framework | |
| BME | Black and minority ethnic | |
| BPS | British Psychological Society | |
| BNF | British National Formulary | |
| BMI |
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| CAMHS | Child and adolescent mental health services |
| Carenotes | C&I Electronic Patient Record System |
| CBT | Cognitive Behavioural Therapy |
| CCG | Clinical Commissioning Group(s) - since replaced by ICS (integrated care systems) |
| CCT | Community care team |
| CMD | Common mental disorder |
| CMHT | Community Mental Health Team |
| COG | Council of Governors |
| COO | Chief Operating Officer |
| COPD | Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease |
| CPA | Care Programme Approach |
| CPD | Continuing professional development |
| CPMH | Chartered Physiotherapists in Mental Health |
| CPN | Community psychiatric nurse |
| CQC | Care Quality Commission |
| CQUIN | Commissioning for quality and innovation |
| CRB | Criminal Records Bureau |
| CRIS | Clinical Record Interactive Search |
| CSP | Chartered Society of Physiotherapy |
| CST | Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (a group treatment for people with dementia) |
| CSU | Commissioning support unit |
| CPN | Community psychiatric nurse |
| DBS | Disclosure and barring service |
| DH | Department of Health |
| DNA | Did not attend |
| DNR | Do not resuscitate |
| DOLS | Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards |
| DPA | Data Protection Act |
| ECT | Electro Convulsive Therapy (used to treat very severe depression) |
| EIP | Early intervention in psychosis |
| EIS | Early Intervention Service |
| EPR | Electronic Patient Record – please see RiO & Carenotes |
| EPS | Electronic prescription service |
| ESR | Electronic staff record |
| ECG | Electrocardiogram |
| EPG |
Executive Performance Group |
| FFT | Friends and Family Test |
| FGM | Female genital mutilation |
| FOI | Freedom of Information (FOI) Act |
| FT | Foundation Trust |
| FY | Foundation year 1 / 2 etc for doctors |
| GMC | General Medical Council |
| HAZMAT | Hazardous materials |
| HCSW | Health care support worker |
| HFMA | Healthcare Financial Management Association |
| HIA | Health Impact Assessment |
| HONOS | This is the tool used to allocate patients to a care cluster |
| HSJ | Health Service Journal |
| HWE | Healthwatch England |
| HTT | Home Treatment Team |
| IAPT | Improving Access to Psychological Therapies - known now as Talking Therapies |
| ICP | Integrated care pilot |
| ICT | Information and communications technology |
| IG | Information governance |
| KPI | Key performance indicator |
| LA | Local Authority |
| LAA | Local area agreement |
| L&D | Learning and Development |
| LD | Learning Disability (service) |
| MDA | Medical device alert |
| MDT | Multi-disciplinary team |
| MHA | Mental Health Act |
| MHLDDS | Mental Health and Learning Disability Data Set |
| MHRT |
Mental health review tribunal |
| MOJ | Ministry of Justice |
| MWIA | Mental well-being impact assessment |
| NHSE | NHS England |
| NHSI | NHS Improvement |
| NHSIQ | NHS Improving Quality |
| NHSLA | NHS Litigation Authority |
| NHSP | NHS Professionals (an agency providing staff for the NHS) |
| NICE | The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence |
| NIHR | National Institute for Health Research |
| NPSA | National Patient Safety Agency |
| NHS | National Health Service |
| NED | Non-Executive Director |
| OT | Occupational Therapist |
| OPMH | Older People's Mental Health |
| OD | Organisational Development |
| PBC | Practice-based commissioning |
| PHB | Personal Health Budget |
| PICU | Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit |
| PID | Project initiation document |
| PIP | Personal independence payment |
| PHSO | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman |
| PRB | Pay review body |
| PSS | Psychiatrists' Support Service |
| PALS | Patient Advice and Liaison Service |
| PHE | Public Health England |
| PLACE | Patient Led Assessments of the Care Environment |
| QA | Quality assurance |
| QIA | Quality impact assessment |
| QIPP | Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention |
| QOF | Quality and outcomes framework |
| QI | Quality Improvement |
| RCN | Royal College of Nursing |
| RCPSYCH | Royal College of Psychiatrists |
| RiO | The electronic patient record system |
| RN | Registered nurse |
| RCP | Royal College of Physicians |
| SI | Serious incident | |
| SMI | Serious mental illness | |
| STP | Sustainability & Transformation Partnerships | |
| SAR | Subject Access Request |
| ToR | Terms of Reference |
| WTE | Whole Time Equivalent |
| WHO | World Health Organization |
| YTD | Year to Date |