Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Amenorrhoea
- No periods or bleeding.
- Body mass index (BMI)
- A measure of weight relative to height.
- British Menopause Society (BMS)
- The UK professional society for menopause care, publisher of Tools for Clinicians.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care in England.
- Data Protection Act 2018
- The UK law, alongside the UK GDPR, on handling personal information.
- Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
- The government department that manages national medicine supply problems.
- Duty of candour
- The legal duty (Regulation 20) to be open with patients when something goes wrong.
- Endometrium
- The womb lining, which can thicken abnormally if oestrogen is given without enough progestogen.
- Equality Act 2010
- The law protecting people from discrimination.
- General Medical Council (GMC)
- The UK regulator of doctors.
- General Pharmaceutical Council
- The regulator of pharmacists and pharmacies in Great Britain.
- General practitioner (GP)
- The patient's family doctor.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting the fundamental standards registered providers must meet.
- Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
- Medicines replacing hormones, mainly oestrogen, that fall at menopause.
- Human Medicines Regulations 2012
- The main UK law on licensing, prescribing and supplying medicines.
- Levonorgestrel intrauterine system (LNG-IUS)
- A device in the womb releasing progestogen; only 52 mg devices protect the endometrium in HRT.
- Medicine Supply Notification (MSN)
- A DHSC notice explaining a shortage and what to do.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
- The UK regulator of medicines and devices, which runs the Yellow Card scheme.
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
- Publisher of national clinical guidelines, including NG23 on menopause.
- Nursing and Midwifery Council
- The UK regulator of nurses and midwives.
- Off-label
- Use of a licensed medicine outside the terms of its licence.
- Oestradiol
- The main oestrogen used in HRT, as tablets, patches, gel or spray.
- Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI)
- Loss of normal ovarian function before age 40.
- Progestogen
- A hormone given with oestrogen to protect the womb lining.
- Records Management Code of Practice (2023)
- National guidance on managing and retaining health and care records.
- Sequential and continuous combined HRT
- Sequential: progestogen for part of each month, usually with a monthly bleed. Continuous combined: both hormones daily, intended to give no bleeds.
- Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP)
- A government protocol letting a pharmacist supply a set alternative during a serious shortage without contacting the prescriber, if the patient agrees.
- Service level agreement (SLA)
- The written contract setting out what the pharmacy does for the service.
- Single assessment framework
- The CQC's current assessment method, built on quality statements and five key questions.
- Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS)
- A national medicines advice service hosting the Medicines Supply Tool.
- Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
- A written step-by-step instruction for doing a task consistently and safely.
- Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC)
- The approved document describing how a medicine should be used.
- Transdermal
- Absorbed through the skin, for example by patch, gel or spray.
- UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
- The UK's main data protection law.
- Unlicensed medicine
- A medicine without a UK marketing authorisation.
- Venous thromboembolism (VTE)
- A blood clot in a vein, such as a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism.
- Yellow Card scheme
- The MHRA system for reporting side effects and suspected fake medicines.