Key terms used in community pharmacy
Published on: 25th June 2019 | Updated on: 1st May 2024
The world of pharmacy and the NHS is constantly evolving, with new acronyms, and names for services and systems emerging on a regular basis. It can be difficult to keep up with the acronyms and many of them look and sound similar to each other. Community Pharmacy England has compiled the below list of acronyms that are commonly used in community pharmacy and NHS policy.
This page will be updated regularly.
Click on a heading below to view a list of acronyms:
| Acronym | Meaning |
| GDPR | General Data Protection Regulation |
| GPhC | General Pharmaceutical Council |
| HCV | Hepatitis C Virus |
| HEE | Health Education England |
| HLP | Healthy Living Pharmacy |
| HMR | Human Medicines Regulations |
| HUHY | Help Us Help You (campaign) |
| HWB | Health and Wellbeing Board |
| ICB | Integrated Care Board |
| ICS | Integrated Care System |
| IG | Information Governance |
| IPA (previously known as AIMp/AIM | Independent Pharmacies Association |
| IIF | Investment and Impact Fund |
| IPMO | Integrating NHS Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation programme |
| JCVI | Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation |
| JHWS | Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies |
| JSNA | Joint Strategic Needs Assessments |
Healthcare who’s who
The health and care landscape has always been complicated to understand, and changes to the NHS architecture seem to happen on a fairly regular basis, sometimes introducing new bodies and service commissioners that community pharmacy must engage with.
The links below will take you to website pages describing the role of the main bodies in the healthcare landscape.
NHS England published Understanding the new NHS – A guide for everyone working and training within the NHS in June 2014. This brief booklet was written by five doctors in training and it outlines the organisations, systems and processes that define, sustain and regulate the NHS. As such the document provides a quick guide for community pharmacy teams that want to refresh their knowledge of how the NHS works.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s Guide to the Healthcare System in England is an alternative resource which describes the healthcare system and the main bodies which operate within it. It will be a useful educational/CPD resource for pharmacy contractors, pharmacists and pre-registration students.
The King’s Fund – Animation – How does the NHS in England work? (Oct 2017)
NHS England (the NHS Commissioning Board) and Local Professional Networks (LPN)
Local Authorities (local government)
Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG)
Commissioning Support Units (CSU)
Regional Medicines Optimisation Committees (RMOCs)
The links below are for the websites of organisations that regularly issue policy documents or other materials on health policy issues.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA)
National Information Board (NIB)
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
See also our List of organisations related with pharmacy IT
For more information on this topic please email comms.team@cpe.org.uk
