Healthcare jargon buster

Key terms to be familiar with:

• ‘Acute care’ – short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition or recovery from surgery.
• ‘Better care fund’ – a £5.3 billion budget that aims to look at new initiatives, so that the NHS and local government work more closely together and integrate local health and social care systems.
• ‘Continuing health care’ or ‘CHC’ – ongoing care that is arranged and funded solely by the NHS where the individual has been found to have a ‘primary health care’ need.
• ‘Clinical Commissioning Group’ or ‘CCG’ – NHS organisations that enable GPs and other clinicians to organise the delivery of NHS services in England, based on their geographical area (replaced NHS Trusts in 2012).
• ‘Clinician’ – a healthcare professional working in primary or secondary care.
• ‘Community care’ – locally based health or social care services provided to patients in and around their home, designed to keep people independent.
• ‘Health care’ – the prevention of a disease, illness, injury or disability and the care or aftercare of a person with those needs and commonly (but not exclusively) provided by medical professionals.
• ‘Intermediate care’ – treatment and care given after an acute hospital stay or to prevent a person needing one.
• ‘Non-acute inpatient services’ – specialist care primarily for people with severe and enduring mental-health problems.
• ‘Payment by results’ – a financial payment system linked to the amount of work and efficiency of the service provided.
• ‘Personal budget’ or ‘Personal health budget’ – the amount of money allocated to an individual by the local government or NHS to meet the individual’s social care or health needs.
• ‘Primary care’ – health services that are the first point of contact for patients e.g. GP surgeries, pharmacists, dentists and opticians.
• ‘Secondary care’ – services provided by medical specialists who generally do not have the first contact with patients e.g. cardiologists, urologists, dermatologists.
• ‘Social care’ – non-medical care that is aimed at providing vulnerable people with care and support to enable them to live their lives as fully as possible.
• ‘Vanguards’ – models or ways of delivering care that aim to simplify services for individuals by joining up the NHS, local authorities, for-profit and voluntary organisations.

Key legislation to be familiar with:

• Care Act 2014 (and Statutory Guidance)
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• Mental Capacity Act 2005

If you would like more information about the topics discussed, please contact Emma Watt.

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