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Terms and abbreviations

Use this page when a service name or abbreviation interrupts the main explanation. The legal-force guide explains how the type of authority changes an obligation; the catalogue supplies exact scope and clauses.

The action and its authority

Term Meaning here
Send digitally Actively transmit information electronically, such as a message or a dataset submission.
Make digitally available Enable authorised electronic retrieval, viewing, extraction or a qualifying electronic copy. The applicable duty determines which action is required.
Interoperability Systems can exchange information and support its use. A technical connection still needs the applicable legal and access arrangements.
Statutory requirement A requirement grounded in legislation, a binding direction or a statutory notice within its scope.
Prescribed contract term A term that regulations require a specified healthcare contract to include.
Adopted contract The actual agreement governing an organisation's service, including its applicable version, schedules and variations.
Have regard A legal duty to consider an applicable standard. Its effect differs from an unconditional requirement to implement every detail.
Administrative mandate A national administrative document states requirements; the catalogue explains where its specific statutory or adopted-contract route is unverified.
Information standard A specification for matters such as data content, meaning, format or exchange. Its legal force and implementation dates need their own check.
ISN / DPN Information Standards Notice / Data Provision Notice. An ISN identifies a published standard and its scope/dates; a DPN identifies a particular collection requirement.
Return A report an organisation provides, for example on activity, bed use or a payment claim.

These meanings summarise the maintained legal framework, not a replacement set of legal definitions.

Healthcare organisations and records

Term Meaning
GP General practice or general practitioner, according to the context.
GMS / PMS General Medical Services / Personal Medical Services: named contractual arrangements for primary medical care. National terms differ.
EPR Electronic patient record. A product's record coverage and users need to be checked separately.
SCR Summary Care Record: the defined English summary service.
WGPR Welsh GP Record: the Welsh GP-summary retrieval arrangement discussed in this guide.
ECS / KIS Emergency Care Summary / Key Information Summary. Read the national context; matching labels do not prove identical contents or legal duties.
CHI Community Health Index identifier used in Scotland.
CGS Community Glaucoma Service: the defined Scottish NHS service used in the record/claim example.
HSC Trust A Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland.
DHCW / PHS Digital Health and Care Wales / Public Health Scotland.
CDS / SUS+ Commissioning Data Sets / Secondary Uses Service: the specified English activity collection and receiving service.
SMR01 / KH03a The Scottish hospital-episode record and Northern Irish bed/non-acute activity report explained in the national reporting comparison. Their legal/evidence positions differ.

The national guides identify the relevant organisations and the sources behind each arrangement.

Digital exchange

Term Meaning
GP2GP Electronic transfer of a registered patient's GP record between practices under the relevant national terms.
GP Connect The defined English GP-record access/update capabilities described in the GP contract provisions. Access eligibility and lawful disclosure remain separate.
MESH Message Exchange for Social Care and Health, an NHS transfer service.
XML A structured electronic data format used by specified collections and messages.
FHIR Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources: a family of health-data exchange specifications. The applicable version and profile come from the relevant standard.
SNOMED CT / dm+d Clinical terminology / dictionary of medicines and devices. These identify clinical concepts or medicines within a covered use; they do not themselves create every disclosure.
EDI Electronic data interchange: a term used for structured electronic result delivery in the NI example.
API Application programming interface: a defined way for software systems to interact. A working API is not proof of an unrestricted legal access right.

See interoperability for content, meaning, transport and use, with the exact notices and provider conditions. Home returns to the short answer.

Protection terms

Term Meaning here
CP-IS England's Child Protection Information Sharing service: defined safeguarding indicators and contacts, with separately scoped contract/standard requirements.
CJSM Criminal Justice Secure Mail, used by the current NI HSC Trust–PSNI adult joint-protection protocol.
IRD Inter-agency referral discussion in Scottish child protection. Local electronic records support the process; the national guidance is non-statutory.
SAB Safeguarding Adults Board in England. A qualifying information request has its own legal conditions.
GMC General Medical Council, the regulator for doctors.
PSNI Police Service of Northern Ireland.
SBNI Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland.
RQIA Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority, Northern Ireland's health/social-care regulator.
NIECR Northern Ireland Electronic Care Record.
WCCIS Welsh Community Care Information System.
HIS Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
PVG Protection of Vulnerable Groups, Scotland's disclosure scheme/framework.
MAPPA Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements for the applicable offender/public-protection framework.
CPR Child Protection Register in this context; not cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Protection report Information provided for a specific risk/protection task. It differs from routine care handover, a shared-record flag or a regulator incident notice.

See the protection explanation for national definitions and source-linked limits.