# Terms and abbreviations Use this page when a service name or abbreviation interrupts the main explanation. The [legal-force guide](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/requirements/index.md) explains how the type of authority changes an obligation; the [catalogue](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/digital-requirements/index.md) 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](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/legal-framework/index.md), 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](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/national-service-reports/index.md). Their legal/evidence positions differ. | The [national guides](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/comparison/index.md) 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](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/topics/interoperability/index.md) for content, meaning, transport and use, with the exact notices and provider conditions. [Home](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/index.md) 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](https://uk-digital-healthcare-legal-requirements.pages.dev/topics/protection-and-safeguarding/index.md) for national definitions and source-linked limits.