This page contains a list of terms used within the BLMK Green Plan 2025-2032, and other phrases and abbreviations commonly-used within Sustainable Healthcare. Click each letter to jump to that section and use the arrows to open up the list of terms. If there is a term missing that you think should be included, please contact blmkicb.sustainability@nhs.net.
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 123
A
- A&E: Accident & Emergency department at hospital
- Acute Trust: An NHS hospital providing short term, specialist goods and services for the NHS
- Adaptation: The process of adjusting our systems and infrastructure to continue to operate effectively while the climate changes
- ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation)
- AQ: Air Quality – a measure of how polluted the air we breath is – this includes outside and indoor air
B
- BAF: Board Assurance Framework – a structure and process to enable an organisation to focus on risks which may compromise the achievement of its strategic objectives
- BHFT: Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- BLMK: Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (the geographical area the Green Plan relates to)
- BNG: Biodiversity Net Gain – a way of creating and improving natural habitats e.g. planting trees, creating wildlife ponds, green rooves
C
- Carbon: A chemical element; sometimes used as a short-hand for carbon dioxide or other gaseous carbon compounds released into the atmosphere, associated with climate change.
- Carbon Footprint: The total annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions relating to a product/company/organisation. See also NHS Carbon Footprint.
- CCS: Cambridgeshire Community Services (providers of community and children’s services across some areas of BLMK)
- CF: Carbon Footprint or NHS Carbon Footprint
- CF+: NHS Carbon Footprint Plus
- Choice-editing: Controlling or limiting the choices available for consumers to reduce the use of hard-to-recycle items (for example, removing plastic cups from the stock list so only paper cups can be ordered)
- Circular Economy: A process which generates zero waste, through a combination of different activities, often described by the 3Rs, 5Rs or 10Rs of procurement and waste management. See also Linear Economy.
- Climate Change: A large-scale, long-term shift in the planet’s weather patterns and average temperatures
- CNWL: Central & North West London Foundation Trust (Providers of community services across Milton Keynes)
- COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (a progressive disease of the lungs).
- CO2e: Carbon Dioxide Equivalent – the standard metric measure to compare the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of different greenhouse gases; measured in grammes (g), kilogrammes (kg) or tonnes (t).
- CQC: Care Quality Commission – regulates all health and social care services in England; ensures the quality and safety of care.
- CRP: Carbon Reduction Plan – strategy for an organisation to reduce its carbon emissions.
- CVD: Cardio-Vascular Disease – a general term for conditions affecting the heart and/or blood vessels.
D
- DCA: Dual-crewed ambulance (emergency ambulance)
- Decile: One of ten equal measurements that a set of things can be divided into, used to indicate performance comparisons. For example “top decile” means performance in the top 10% of a group. See also Quartile.
- Digitally-enabled: A process that is facilitated through digital media/tools/technology
- DMA: Digital Maturity Assessment – a process that “helps providers and integrated care systems (ICSs) across England to understand their level of digital maturity by identifying key strengths and gaps in the provision of digital services.”
E
- EaSIA: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment – a tool developed by BLMK ICB to help understand the impact of policies and projects on environmental and social issues
- Ecosystem: Geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscapes, work together to form a bubble of life
- EEAST: East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (provides ambulance services across Bedfordshire and Luton)
- ELFT: East London Foundation Trust (providers of community and mental health services across Bedfordshire and Luton)
- Environmental Degradation: Depletion or destruction of a potentially renewable resource such as air, water, soil, forest, or wildlife, by using it at a rate faster than it can be naturally renewed
- Environmentally Sustainable: The ability to preserve and protect the natural environment over time through appropriate practices and policies, meeting present needs without compromising the availability of resources in the future
- EoE: East of England (geographical area of England which includes BLMK)
- ERIC: Estates Return Information Collection (collects information relating to the costs of providing and maintaining the NHS Estate including building, maintaining and equipping hospitals, services such as cleaning, laundry, food and portering and the consumption and costs of utilities)
- ESG: Environmental , Social and Governance – principle of prioritising environmental issues, social issues, and corporate governance to ensure all matters are considered within a business.
- EV: Electric Vehicle (a motor vehicle powered fully or mostly by electricity rather than petrol/diesel)
- Evergreen: The Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment – an online tool enabling suppliers to engage with the NHS on their sustainability journey and understand how to align with the NHS net zero and sustainability ambitions
- Extreme Weather: Strong winds and storms, droughts and floods, and extreme hot and cold spells. Made more likely by global warming.
G
- GHG: See Greenhouse Gas
- GIRFT: Getting it Right First Time – NHS England programme designed to improve services by tackling and reducing variation in care and treatment
- GP: General Practitioner (medical doctor providing care to a local practice population)
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG): gases in the earth’s atmosphere that trap heat and contribute to global warming. There are seven types of greenhouse gas listed in the international Kyoto Protocol and 2016 Paris Agreement: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
- Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Scopes: The internationally agreed way to categorise Greenhouse Gases based on their source:
- Scope 1 – direct emissions owned/controlled by the organisation
- Scope 2 – indirect emissions from the purchase of energy
- Scope 3 – all other indirect emissions as a consequence of the organisation’s activities (for example emissions from an organisation’s supply chain)
- Green Social Prescribing (GSP): Supporting people to engage in nature-based interventions and activities to improve their mental and physical health e.g. gardening, open water swimming, walking, nature conservation projects
- GSP: Green Social Prescribing
- GWP: Global Warming Potential – a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific time period, relative to carbon dioxide. One tonne of a gas with a GWP of 248 released into the atmosphere is the equivalent of 248 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
H
- HCP (meaning #1): Health Care Professional (e.g. nurse, optometrist, physiotherapist, midwife, pharmacist, chiropractor; often used in a way that does not include doctors and dentists)
- HCP (meaning #2): Health and Care Partnership (brings together all provider health organisations in a given area to work as one)
- Healthcare: The provision of medical care to individuals or a community
- Health Inequalities: Unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between different groups within society
- Healthcare Resources: Worforce, facilities, equipment, supplies and funding to produce and deliver healthcare services, and any other health and care support or administrative resource
- HIA: Health Impact Assessment – a tool or process to identify and optimise the health and wellbeing impacts of planning
- HVAC: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems
I
- IBD: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (a term used to describe conditions that cause severe stomach pain and diarrhoea)
- ICB: Integrated Care Board (an organisation with responsibility for NHS functions and budgets)
- ICS: Integrated Care System (a geographically based partnership of health and care organisations)
- ICT: Information and Communication Technology (the development, management and support of the ICT infrastructure in health organisations)
- IPC: Infection Prevention and Control – a practical, evidence-based approach preventing patients and health workers from being harmed by avoidable infections
K
- Kyoto Protocol: The Kyoto Protocol was the first agreement between nations to mandate country-by-country reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions
L
- LA: See Local Authority
- LCA: Life-cycle assessment – a process of evaluating the effects that a product has on the environment over the entire period of its life
- LED: Light Emitting Diodes – a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Used for low-energy lighting.
- Linear Economy: any system or process that generates waste that cannot be used. Resources are taken from the Earth, made into usable materials, and used by humans, resulting in some or all of the natural resource being converted into unusable waste. See also Circular Economy.
- LNRS: Local Nature Recovery Strategy – a statutory requirement of prioritising nature needs on a more local and focused level
- Local Authority: Administrative body in local government (the local council)
- LTP: Local Transport Plan (a statutory requirement, helps to promote transport as an enabler to deliver on economic, environment and social objectives by planning for infrastructure and initiatives to help people and goods travel around)
M
- MART: Maintenance and Reliever Therapy – an asthma treatment plan where one combination inhaler is used instead of two separate ones (a preventer inhaler (traditionally brown) and reliever inhaler (typically blue)).
- MDI: Metered Dose Inhaler – a small device incorporating a pressurized canister that contains aerosol medicine to be inhaled for relief of asthma and COPD symptoms.
- Mean (average): The sum of all the numbers in a list, divided by the number of different items in that list.
- Median: The middle number in a list of numbers which has been sorted in either ascending or descending order. Different to Mean (average).
- MKUH: Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
N
- Nature Regeneration: The ability of an ecosystem (the environment and its living population) to renew and recover from damage
- NEPTS: Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (funded transport where a medical condition means that a patient would struggle to safely attend their treatment independently)
- Net Zero: The balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount that’s removed from the atmosphere, achieved through a combination of emission reduction and emission removal
- NHS: National Health Service
- NHS Property Services: an NHS organisation that provides strategic estates services to help other NHS organisations deliver the best patient care.
- NHSPS: See NHS Property Services.
- NICE: National Institute for Clinical Excellence (provide guidelines which are evidence-based recommendations for health and care in England and Wales)
- Nitrous Oxide (N2O): a colourless gas that is commonly used for sedation and pain relief
- “NHS Carbon Footprint”: The total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that the NHS can directly control. It includes all of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, plus a few specific Scope 3 items (see Greenhouse Gas scopes, above). See Delivering a Net Zero NHS for further information.
- “NHS Carbon Footprint Plus”: The total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our suppliers that we can only influence
- N2O: See Nitrous Oxide
P
- Paris Agreement: An agreement between 196 Countries, signed in 2015 agreeing a series of measures to tackle climate change and prevent global temperatures rising by more than 1.5C above pre industrial levels
- PCN: See Primary Care Network
- PIFU: Patient Initiated Follow Up (where a patient initiates an appointment when they need one, based on their symptoms and individual circumstances, rather than receiving a planned follow up at a set period of time e.g. 6 months)
- pMDI: Pressurised Metered Dose Inhaler – See MDI
- Pollution: the introduction of harmful materials into the environment (soil, water or air)
- Population Health: an approach aimed at improving the collective health of an entire, defined population, improving the physical and mental health outcomes and wellbeing of people, whilst reducing health inequalities. See also Public Health.
- PPE: Personal Protective Equipment (protective clothing or equipment designed to protect the wearer from injury or infection e.g. masks, gloves, aprons, goggles)
- PPG: Patient Participation Group (group of volunteer patients, practice manager and a doctor in a GP Practice meeting to discuss and improve the services provided by that practice)
- Prevention: Activities to avoid disease and risk factors or to mitigate the progression of the effects of existing disease
- Primary Care: The first point of contact in the healthcare system, acting as the ‘front door’ of the NHS. Primary care includes general practice, community pharmacy, dental, and optometry (eye health) services.
- Primary Care Network: (a group of GP practices working closely together, providing integrated services to their local population)
- Provider: An organisation providing health or care services.
- PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – a mental health condition caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events
- Public Health: “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals” (from Gatseva and Argirova, 2011)
Q
- QI: Quality Improvement – a systematic approach to the analysis of and efforts to improve, performance of healthcare services
- Quartile: One of four equal measurements that a set of things can be divided into, used to indicate performance comparisons. For example “top quartile” indicates performance in the top 25% of a group. See also Decile.
R
- RoI: Return on Investment – the value (health or care outcome, and environmental, social or financial benefit) from an activity for a particular period compared with the amount of time or money invested in it. A “positive RoI” means the initiative returns more value than it cost to deliver.
S
- SABA: Short Acting Beta Agonist (a class of inhaler medicine used to relive asthma symptoms quickly – known as reliever inhalers)
- SCAS: South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (provides ambulance services across Milton Keynes)
- Scope(s): See GHG Scopes
- Secondary Care: Any care a person receives for their illness or condition that occurs beyond the primary care they’ve already received (usually delivered in a hospital setting/outpatient clinic)
- SMART: Actions which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based
- SME: Small and Medium-sized Enterprise – an organisation that has fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of less than £44 million or a balance sheet total less than £38 million.
- Social Prescribing (SP): An approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing
- Social Value: a broader understanding of value which goes beyond using money as the main indicator of value, instead putting the emphasis on what changes/decisions create a positive outcome on people and communities
- SP: Social Prescribing
- SRO: Senior Responsible Officer (the job role that specifically provides direction for a project or programme. taking ownership of the business case and objectives, successful delivery and benefits on behalf of the organisation)
- STAR: Sustainable Technology Advice and Reporting (the STAR team coordinates cross-government reporting and best practice for increasing ICT sustainability)
- SUP: Single Use Plastic (plastic items which are used once and disposed of – not recycled)
- SusQI: Sustainability in Quality Improvement (a systematic approach to the analysis of and efforts to improve the sustainability of healthcare services)
- Sustainable Healthcare: Ability to deliver healthcare now without compromising the ability to meet the health needs of the future
- SV: Social Value
T
- TCFD: Task-Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures – a short-term UK government piece of work that developed recommendations on the types of information that companies should disclose to support investors, lenders, and insurance underwriters in appropriately assessing and pricing a specific set of risks related to climate change. The Task-Force has disbanded as their recommendations have been incorporated into government guidance.
- Triple Bottom Line: Assessing value based on a balance between patient outcomes and environmental, social and financial impact). See also ESG.
- Trust: An NHS organisation providing goods and services for the NHS e.g. Hospital services, Mental Health Services, District Nurses
V
- VC: Virtual Consultation (a consultation with a Healthcare Professional which is carried out over video or telephone, not face to face)
- VCSE: Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (an organisation which is a charity, Community Interest Company or Community Benefit Society). Can also include Faith organisations.
W
- WHO: The World Health Organisation (agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies)
- WTE (meaning #1): Whole Time Equivalent – the proportion of time allocated to a role relative to a full-time employee. For example, 0.8 WTE is usually equivalent to 30 hours per week (a full-time NHS employee on an “Agenda for Change” contract usually works 37.5 hours).
- WTE (meaning #2): Waste to Energy – a series of processes designed to convert waste materials into usable forms of energy (for example through incineration).
Z
- ZEV: Zero Emissions Vehicle – a powered vehicle that does not emit exhaust gas or other pollutants from the onboard source of power. Usually refers to fully electric vehicles (EVs).
123
- 3Rs, 5Rs and 10Rs (of procurement and waste management): Various ways of reducing the amount of waste created, and methods for using waste materials to help move towards a Circular Economy. The “Rs” are arranged in order of priority according to their potential to reduce waste. There are several different sets of “Rs” available through internet searches, but are typically as follows:
- 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
- 5Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Reprocess, Renewable, Recycle
- 10Rs: Rethink, Repurpose, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Remanufacture, Recycle, Recover (from this example list).