Glossary of Industry Acronyms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

ABHI
Association of British Healthcare Industries

ABPI
Association of The British Pharmaceutical Industry
www.abpi.org.uk

AdvaMed
Advanced Medical Technology Trade Association - the US Association for the Medical Technology Industry (formerly HIMA).
www.advamed.org

AIDC
Automatic Identification and Data Capture

AIMDD
Active Implantable Medical Devices Directive
www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Devices/ActiveImplantableMedicalDevicesDirective/index.htm

ALB
Arms Length Bodies - A review of ALB's hasled to the merging and/or dissolution of a number of NHS organisations

AXrEM
Association of Healthcare Technology Providers for Imaging, Radiotherapy and Care (formerly the Association of X-Ray Equipment Manufacturers)
www.axrem.org.uk

BBSRC
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
www.bbsrc.ac.uk

BDA
British Dental Association - the professional association and trade union for dentists in the UK
www.bda.org

BDTA
British Dental Trade Association - the Association for dental manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and distributors
www.bdta.org.uk

BHTA
British Healthcare Trades Association - the Association for Assistive Technologies in Healthcare
www.bhta.net

BIA
BioIndustry Association - the trade association for innovative enterprises in the UK's bioscience sector
www.bioindustry.org

BIS
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
www.berr.gov.uk

BITECIC
Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Centre of Industrial Collaboration - established to manage collaboration between industry, universities and expert clinicians.
www.bitecic.com

BIVDA
British In Vitro Diagnostics Association - the association for companies with major involvement and interest in the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) industry
www.bivda.co.uk

BLWA
See GAMBICA

BMA
British Medical Association
www.bma.org.uk

BOA
British Orthopaedic Association - provider of education and practice management services for orthopaedic surgeons and health professionals
www.boa.ac.uk

BSA
NHS Business Services Authority - Replaces the Dental Practice Board, NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service, NHS Pensions Agency and Prescriptions Pricing Authority
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk

BSI
British Standards Institution - the UK's National Standards Body
www.bsigroup.com

CBI
Confederation of British Industry - the leading lobbying organisation for UK business on national and international issues.
www.cbi.org.uk

CEN
Comité Européen de Normalisation - the European Committee for Standardization
www.cen.eu

CENELEC
Comité européen de normalisation électrotechnique - the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
www.cenelec.eu

CEP
Centre for Evidence-based Purchasing (formerly the Device Evaluation Service of the MHRA)
www.pasa.nhs.uk/cep

CMO
Chief Medical Officer

CNO
Chief Nursing Officer

CPH
Collaborative Procurement Hub - Part of the SCEP focused on purchasing strategy at a regional level
www.pasa.nhs.uk/PASAWeb/NHSprocurement/Collaborativeprocurementregional/CurrentcollaborativesintheNHS.htm

CPO
Collaborative Procurement Organisation ( Term used to cover Hubs and Confederations focussed on purchasing strategy at a regional level)

CPO
Chief Pharmaceutical Officer

CQC
Care Quality Commission- formerly Healthcare Commission
www.cqc.org.uk

CRM
Cardiac Rhythm Management

CSM
Committee of Safety of Medicines
www.mhra.gov.uk/Committees/Medicinesadvisorybodies/CommitteeonSafetyofMedicines/index.htm

CSU
Commercial Support Units- provide commercial support to commissioners to ‘stimulate the market’ where this works in the interests of patients, manage contracts effectively and work in harmony with NHS Supply Chain

CSR
Comprehensive Spending Review

DH or DOH
Department of Health
www.dh.gov.uk

DH International
Deparment of Health international
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/International/index.htm

DfiD
Department for International Development
www.dfid.gov.uk

DT
Drug Tariff

EBM
Evidence Based Medicine

EDMA
European Diagnostics Manufacturers Association
www.edma-ivd.be

EPR
Electronic Patient Record

EPSRC
Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council
www.epsrc.ac.uk

ETP
Electronic Transfer of Presciptions

Eucomed
The largest representative body of the European Medical Technology and Devices Industry.
www.eucomed.be

FDA
Food and Drug Administration
www.fda.gov

FHT
Foundation Hospital Trust

GAMBICA
The Association for Instrumentation, Control, Automation, and Laboratory Technology (incorporating BLWA)
www.gambica.org.uk

GDP
Gross Domestic Product

GMC
General Medical Council
www.gmc-uk.org

GMS
General Medical Services

GMP
Good Manufacturing Practice

GPC
General Practitioner Committee

GPFH
GP Fundholder

GS1
Global Standards - Based in Brussels, Belgium, manages the GS1 standards for bar codes, business messaging, RFID and Global Distribution Systems
www.gs1uk.org

HA
Health Authority

HAI
Hospital Acquired Infection

HB
Health Board (Scotland - now NHS Boards)

HCAI
Health Care Acquired Infection

HCHS
Hospital and Community Health Services

HITF
Healthcare Industries Task Force - Brought together government and industry leaders to identify steps to develop, stimulate the growth and performance of the UK healthcare industry and maximise the benefit to patients from healthcare products, reported in May 2007

HMT
HM Treasury
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

HRG
Healthcare Resource Groups - Provide a means of categorising the treatment of patients in order to monitor and evaluate the use of resources

HSE
Health and Safety Executive- to prevent death, injury and ill-health to those at work and those affected by work activities
www.hse.gov.uk

HTA
Health Technology Assessment

HTD
Health Technology Devices programme
www.healthtechnologyportal.org.uk

hTEP
Human Tissue Engineered Products

IchemE
Institution of Chemical Engineers
www.icheme.org

ICP
Integrated Care Pathway

IEC
International Electrotechnical Commission
www.iec.ch

IMRC
Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre

IP
Independent Precriber

ISO
International Standards Organisation
www.iso.ch

IS-TC
Independent Sector Treatment Centres - Use of the private sector to help provide extra clinical capacity to deliver swift access to treatment for NHS patients

IVDMDD
In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Directive
www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Devices/InVitroDiagnosticMedicalDevicesDirective/index.htm

KTN
Knowledge Transfer Network. KTNs stimulate innovation in the UK's key technology sectors by promoting collaboration, best practice and knowledge sharing between industry and academia. KTNs are a DBERR Business Support Solution delivered through the Technology Programme.
ktn.globalwatchonline.com/epicentric_portal/site/KTN/?mode=0

MATCH
Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (a research collaboration between five leading UK universities in healthcare technology assessment, and industrial partners)
www.match.ac.uk

MDD
Medical Devices Directive
www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Devices/MedicalDevicesDirective/index.htm

MHRA
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. From 1 April 2003, MHRA replaced the Medical Devices Agency (MDA) and the Medicines Control Agency (MCA).
www.mhra.gov.uk

MMTSG
Ministerial Medical Technology Strategy Group- established in accordance with the recommendation of the Healthcare Industries Task Force (HITF) Strategic Implementation Group (SIG)
www.dh.gov.uk/ab/HITF/index.htm

MRC
Medical Research Council
www.mrc.ac.uk

NAO
National Audit Office
www.nao.org.uk

NEAT
New and Emerging Applications of Technology Programme

NHS
National Health Service
www.nhs.uk

NHS SC
NHS Supply Chain- NHS Supply Chain provides end-to-end supply chain services incorporating procurement, logistics, e-commerce, and customer and supplier support
www.supplychain.nhs.uk/portal/page/portal/Public

NHSLA
NHS Litigation Authority
www.nhsla.com

NICE
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence- an independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health
www.nice.org.uk

NIII
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement

NPSA
National Patient Safety Agency
www.npsa.nhs.uk

NSF
National Service Framework
www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/NSF/Pages/Nationalserviceframeworks.aspx

OCG
Office of Government Commerce- an independent office of HM Treasury, established to help Government deliver best value from its spending
www.ogc.gov.uk

OGCbs
OGC buying solutions- Buying Solutions is the national procurement partner for UK public services
www.buyingsolutions.gov.uk/index.html?slis_checked=1

OFT
Office of Fair Trading- the UK's consumer and competition authority. Their mission is to make markets work well for consumers
www.oft.gov.uk

OLS
Office for Life Science- dedicated to improving the operating environment for the pharmaceutical, medical biotech and medical devices sectors.
www.dius.gov.uk/ols

OMIS
Overseas Market Introduction Service
www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/ukti/appmanager/ukti/ourservices

OTC
Over the Counter

OTIS
Overseas Technical Information Service
www.ots.co.uk

OSCHR
Office for Strategic Communication of Health Research- to take an overview of the budgetary division and research strategy of both the MRC and NIHR.
www.nihr.ac.uk/about/Pages/about_oschr.aspx

PFI
Private Finance Initiative

PICD
Procurement, Investment and Commercial Division- DH Commercial centre to strengthen commercial and procurement support for DH itself and to ensure alignment of the wider commercial landscape
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Managingyourorganisation/Healthreform/DH_084339

PICTF
Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force
www.dh.gov.uk/ab/Archive/PICTF/index.htm

PPWD
Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive

PCT
Primary Care Trust

Q

QIPP
Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention

REACH
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals
ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm

Rfid
Radio-frequency Identification

RoHS Directive
www.rohs.gov.uk

SDMA
Surgical Dressings Manufacturers Association- industry association representing the surgical dressings industry
www.sdma.org.uk

SIG
Special Interest Group

SIS
Special Interest Section

SME
Small and Medium Size Enterprises

TAP
Tradeshow Access Programme

UDI
Unique Device Identification

UKTI
UK Trade & Investment- work with UK-based businesses to help them succeed in international markets.
www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk

WEEE Directive
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

WHO
World Health Organisation- is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system
www.who.int