Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Accident and emergency (A&E)
- The hospital department that treats people with serious or life-threatening injuries and illnesses, often reached by calling 999.
- Acute coronary syndrome
- A sudden reduction of blood flow to the heart, including a heart attack and unstable angina, that needs emergency treatment.
- Anaphylaxis
- A severe, life-threatening allergic reaction needing immediate emergency treatment.
- Anticoagulant
- A medicine that reduces the blood's ability to clot, sometimes called a blood thinner.
- Arrhythmia
- An abnormal heart rhythm, where the heart beats too fast, too slow or irregularly.
- Atrial fibrillation
- A common irregular and often fast heart rhythm that can raise the risk of stroke.
- Basic life support (BLS)
- Emergency first aid, including chest compressions and rescue breaths, used to keep someone alive until further help arrives.
- Blood pressure
- The pressure of blood against the walls of the arteries, recorded as two numbers and measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).
- Cardiovascular
- Relating to the heart and blood vessels.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Contraindication
- A specific reason a treatment or medicine should not be used because it could harm the patient.
- Diuretic
- A medicine, sometimes called a water tablet, that makes the body pass more urine and can affect the balance of salts in the blood.
- Dose titration
- Gradually adjusting the dose of a medicine, usually increasing it in steps, to reach the right level safely.
- Duty of candour
- The legal duty to be open and honest with a person and their family when something goes wrong with their care.
- Dyslipidaemia
- An unhealthy level of fats, such as cholesterol, in the blood.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG)
- A simple test that records the electrical activity of the heart to check its rhythm and function.
- Electrolytes
- Essential salts and minerals in the blood, such as sodium and potassium, that the body needs to work properly.
- Fundamental standards
- The minimum standards of safety and quality below which care must never fall.
- Gastrointestinal
- Relating to the stomach and intestines, the digestive system.
- General practitioner (GP)
- A doctor based in the community who provides general medical care and refers patients to other services when needed.
- GIP/GLP-1 agonist (dual agonist)
- A medicine that acts on two gut hormone pathways (GIP and GLP-1) to help control blood sugar and reduce appetite, for example tirzepatide.
- GLP-1 receptor agonist
- A medicine that mimics a natural gut hormone to reduce appetite and help with weight loss and blood sugar control, for example semaglutide or liraglutide.
- Healthcare assistant (HCA)
- A member of staff who supports nurses and clinicians with patient care tasks under supervision.
- Heart failure
- A long-term condition in which the heart cannot pump blood around the body as well as it should.
- Hypertension
- Persistently raised blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke and other harm.
- Independent prescriber
- A qualified health professional, such as a pharmacist or nurse, legally allowed to assess patients and prescribe medicines on their own responsibility.
- Informed consent
- Agreement to treatment given freely after the risks, benefits and alternatives have been clearly explained.
- Likelihood
- How probable it is that a particular harm will happen, given the controls already in place.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
- The UK body that regulates medicines and medical devices and issues safety alerts about them.
- Medicines reconciliation
- Checking and confirming the full, accurate list of medicines a patient is taking to avoid errors and harmful combinations.
- Millimetres of mercury (mmHg)
- The unit used to measure blood pressure.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
- The body that produces evidence-based guidance on treatments and care for use across health and social care.
- Near miss
- An event that could have caused harm but did not, by chance or because it was caught in time.
- Nominated Individual
- The senior person responsible to the regulator for supervising how a service is provided.
- Obstructive sleep apnoea
- A condition in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep because the airway becomes blocked.
- Orlistat
- A weight-loss medicine that reduces the amount of fat the body absorbs from food.
- Palpitations
- An awareness of the heartbeat, such as it feeling fast, fluttering or irregular.
- QRISK3
- A widely used calculator that estimates a person's risk of heart attack or stroke over the next ten years.
- QT prolongation
- A delay in the heart's electrical recovery, seen on an electrocardiogram, that can increase the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
- Reasonably practicable
- Doing what is sensible and proportionate to reduce a risk, weighing the effort and cost against the level of risk involved.
- Red flag
- A warning sign or symptom that may indicate a serious problem needing urgent assessment or action.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Regulated activity
- A type of care or treatment the law requires a provider to register with the regulator to deliver.
- Residual risk
- The level of risk that remains after the existing controls have been put in place.
- Risk assessment
- A structured check identifying what could cause harm and what is being done to prevent it.
- Safeguarding
- Protecting people's health, wellbeing and rights and keeping them safe from abuse, harm or neglect.
- Safety-netting
- Telling a patient clearly what to watch for and what to do, including when and how to seek urgent help, if their condition changes or worsens.
- Severity
- How serious the worst plausible outcome of a hazard would be.
- Single assessment framework
- The structure the regulator uses to judge a service, built around quality statements and five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led).
- Statin
- A medicine that lowers cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
- Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC)
- The official document for a medicine that sets out how it should be prescribed and used safely.
- Sympathomimetic
- A substance that stimulates the body's 'fight or flight' system and can raise heart rate and blood pressure.
- Tachyarrhythmia
- An abnormally fast heart rhythm.
- Type 2 diabetes
- A common long-term condition in which blood sugar levels are too high because the body cannot use insulin properly.
- Urea and electrolytes (U&E)
- A common blood test that checks kidney function and the balance of salts in the blood.
- Yellow Card scheme
- The UK system for reporting suspected side effects of medicines and problems with medical devices to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.