NHS Jargon buster – T
- T&S – Travel & Subsistence
- TBC – To Be Confirmed
- TCP – Total Commissioning Project
- TEC – Training & Enterprise Council
- TOP – Termination of Pregnancy
- TQM – Total Quality Management
- Tackling Drugs Together to Build a Better Britain 1998 – a 10-year Government strategy based on a partnership approach involving voluntary and statutory agencies to tackle drugs through education, detection and enforcement
- Target Allocation – allocation of resources based on a formula assessment of “fair share”
- Task Force to Review Services for Drug Misusers, 1996 – a Government appointed team to assess current service provision
- Telecare/Telemedicine – high tech facilities offering ‘remote’ consultation and diagnosis through simultaneous transmission of images from patient in one location to medical professional in another
- Thrombolytic Therapy – the use of drugs to break down blood clots
- Tobacco Control White Paper – the Government’s programme of action to reduce smoking and its harmful effects
- Trecare Trust – voluntary sector provider of specialist services for learning disabled parents helping them to look after their children at homes
- Transport White Paper – the Government’s policy for developing public transport, reducing the impact of transport on the environment and improving standards
- Travellers – communities with no fixed address but who travel the country usually living in mobile accommodation
- Travellers’ Education Service – ensures full access to education for travelling groups and those who travel seasonally. Working with families, schools and the wider public, it aims to raise awareness of Travellers’ needs and improve knowledge and understanding between communities
- Truancy – being absent from school without permission or authorisation
NHS Jargon buster – U
- UGC – University Grants Council
- UKCC – United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting
- UMT – Unit of Medical Time
- UNISON – Health Services and Public Sector Union
- UV – Ultra Violet
- Ultra Violet Light – the harmful rays of the sun. Over exposure to UV light can cause skin cancer
- Urological disease – disease of the kidneys, bladder and urinary tract
- Urology – the study of the kidneys, bladder and urinary tract
- Utting Report on Looked After Children – Sir William Utting’s report, “People Like Us”, published in 1997, recommended a range of safeguards designed to protect children living away from home from abuse or harm. The review was commissioned by the Department of Health and Welsh Office in 1996 following revelations of abuse in children’s homes dating back to the 1970s
NHS Jargon buster – V
- VAT – Value Added Tax
- VDU – Visual Display Unit
- VFM – Value for Money
- VSC – Voluntary Service Co-ordinator
- Vire – movement of money from one budgetary category to another
- Voluntary sector – independent organisations managed by a volunteer committee. Can be very large, professional organisations with high numbers of paid staff or small local societies run purely by volunteers. They are invariably grant, government or charitably funded
NHS Jargon buster – W
- WDC – Workforce Development Confederation
- WO – Welsh Office
- WP – Word Processor
- WRVS – Women’s Royal Voluntary Service
- WSCCG – West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group
- WTE – Whole-time Equivalent
- WTEP – Whole Time Equivalent Post
- Waiting Times – the period that a patient may be on the waiting list before a routine appointment or admission to hospital is possible. The standards and maximum waiting periods are set nationally under thePatient’s Charter
- Wards (electoral) – divisions of local authority districts, represented by an elected Councillor. There are 104 electoral wards in the Nottingham Health Authority area in five local authority districts – four in Ashfield, 21 in Broxtowe, 23 in Gedling, 27 in Nottingham City and 29 in Rushcliffe
- Webs – an information technology term used to describe any interconnection between sites and systems
- White Paper – the process of legislation, setting out policy for an Act of Parliament
- White Paper “Smoking Kills” – see Tobacco White Paper
- Winter Pressures – the seasonal high increase in demand for health and social care services
- Working Together – a Government document which sets out how agencies should work together to consider child protection
NHS Jargon buster – X,Y & Z
- YOT – Youth Offending Team
- Youth Offending Teams – a co-ordinated approach to the strategic development and provision of services for young people involved in crime/in contact with the criminal justice system. The team includes representatives from social services, education, police, probation and health authority
