Good Terms

Question 1

Autonomy

Answer 1

Patients have the right to choose their treatment and to refuse it, as long as they are in a position to understand and process the information in order to come to a decision.

Question 2

Patient competence

Answer 2

When a patient is in a position to understand and process information in order to come to a decision.

Question 3

Battery

Answer 3

When consent for a treatment is not obtained by the doctor.

Question 4

Beneficence

Answer 4

Always doing what is good for the patient.

Question 5

Non-maleficence

Answer 5

Acting in a way that does not harm the patient, whether actively or by omission.

Question 6

Justice

Answer 6

Whether an action is fair across a population in terms of legality and societal expectations. Benefits, costs and risks must also be spread fairly, especially when in short supply.

Question 7

Confidentiality

Answer 7

Respecting a patient’s right to control the information that concerns their own health.

Question 8

Gillick competence

Answer 8

The term used to describe whether a child under 16 years of age can consent to their own treatment without parental permission.

Question 9

Commissioning

Answer 9

The awarding of contracts to providers for providing services in the NHS.

Question 10

CCGs

Answer 10

Clinical Commissioning Groups - The groups made of GPs and managers that control commissioning of services.

Question 11

Payment by result

Answer 11

Each procedure is given a fixed tariff based on an average cost across the country. Each hospital is given money per procedure. If the procedure costs more than this in a hospital, they are motivated to work more efficiently and survive.

Question 12

General Medical Council (GMC)

Answer 12

Institution in charge of:
• Keeping a register of all qualified doctors
• Fostering good medical practice (by issuing guidance)
• Promoting high standards of education and training
• Dealing with doctors who are not fit to practice

Question 13

Royal Colleges

Answer 13

• Institutions charged with setting standards within their field for supervising the training of doctors within that specialty.
• Most require passing some exams to get in. Membership is compulsory if you want to work in that field.

Question 14

British Medical Association (BMA)

Answer 14

• Essentially the trade union representing doctors

* Membership is not compulsory

Question 15

Medical Defence Union (MDU) and Medical Protection Society (MPS)

Answer 15

• Two largest defence unions for doctors

* Represent doctors in court or in GMC hearings, and provide educational activities

Question 16

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Answer 16

• Independent organisation providing guidance on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of illness

Question 17

Centre for Public Health Excellence

Answer 17

The part of NICE that deals with public health and gives guidance on 9 areas of public health.

Question 18

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Answer 18

• Independent regulator of all health and social services in the UK, ensuring they meet national standards

Question 19

Monitor

Answer 19

Regulator looking after finances of NHS trusts, assessing trusts to ensure they are well led.

Question 20

Department of Health

Answer 20

Government department responsible for funding and deciding policies on the NHS.

Question 21

NHS England

Answer 21

Independent umbrella body that oversees healthcare in general. The Department of Health cannot interfere with it.

Question 22

NHS Foundation Trusts

Answer 22

Provide care that CCGs commission. They include hospital, ambulance, mental health, social care and primary care services.

Question 23

Revalidation

Answer 23

The mechanism used to ensure the continuing competence of health practitioners, making sure they are fit to practise.

Question 24

Clinical governance

Answer 24

A set of principles and behaviours that all doctors should adhere to in order to ensure that they offer their patients the best quality of care.

Question 25

Audits

Answer 25

• Systematic examinations of current practice to assess how well an institution or practitioner is performing against set standards.
• Used to reflect, review and improve practice.

Question 26

Blame culture

Answer 26

• A mentality in which we are more keen to place the blame on an individual or a mistake, and focus on punishing them rather than learning from our mistakes.
• It means that doctors are more willing to hide their mistakes and not speak out.

Question 27

Informed consent

Answer 27

When the patient has consented to a procedure or treatment, having been given and having considered all the facts that were necessary for making a decision.

Question 28

Competent

Answer 28

When a patient understands the information given to them and is capable of making a rational decision by themselves.

Question 29

Duty of confidentiality

Answer 29

The need for a doctor to protect a patient’s information at all costs, except in some extenuating circumstances.

Question 30

Notifiable diseases

Answer 30

Diseases that doctors have a duty to report to authorities (even against patient confidentiality). NOTE: This does not include HIV and AIDS.

Question 31

Euthanasia

Answer 31

When someone ends someone else’s life through an intentional act in order to alleviate their pain and suffering.

Question 32

Assisted suicide

Answer 32

When a person commits suicide with the help of another (e.g. a doctor prescribing medication to induce death).

Question 33

Social prescribing

Answer 33

A means of enabling GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services.

Question 34

Power of attorney

Answer 34

A written authorization to represent or act on another’s behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter.

Question 35

NHS Five Year Forward View

Answer 35

A plan from 2014 which outlined how our NHS needs to change to keep up with the changing world. It relates somewhat to AI.

Question 36

100k genome project

Answer 36

A project that will sequence 100,000 genomes from around 70,000 people. Participants are NHS patients with a rare disease, plus their families, and patients with cancer. It is ongoing.

Question 37

Social care

Answer 37

Care provided by the local authority that helps with everyday living in a community.

Question 38

Residential care

Answer 38

Sheltered accommodation for residents who may not be able to live independently.