Glossary
Clinical AI, NHS & digital-health terms, explained
Plain-English definitions of the standards, exams and concepts we work with — each linked to a deeper guide.
The standards, exams and concepts below come up constantly across NHS assurance, digital-health interoperability and medical education. Each definition is deliberately concise and plain-English; where a deeper guide exists, follow the link to explore the topic in full. Terms span four areas — NHS procurement and assurance (DTAC, DSP Toolkit, clinical safety), interoperability and data (FHIR, HL7, SNOMED CT), real-world evidence, and the IMG and exam route into the NHS.
- DTAC
- Digital Technology Assessment Criteria — the NHS baseline assessment across clinical safety, data protection, technical security, interoperability and usability/accessibility. Learn more →
- DCB0129
- The clinical risk management standard for the manufacturer of a health IT system; produces a clinical safety case and hazard log. Learn more →
- DCB0160
- The clinical risk management standard for the healthcare organisation deploying a health IT system; manages local clinical risk. Learn more →
- Clinical Safety Case
- A structured, evidenced argument that a health IT system is acceptably safe for its intended use, owned by a Clinical Safety Officer. Learn more →
- DPIA
- Data Protection Impact Assessment — required under UK GDPR for high-risk processing, including most health AI. Learn more →
- SaMD
- Software as a Medical Device — software with a medical purpose that may be regulated as a medical device by the MHRA. Learn more →
- DSP Toolkit
- Data Security and Protection Toolkit — the annual NHS data-security self-assessment for organisations handling NHS data/systems. Learn more →
- FHIR
- Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources — a modern, web-API standard for exchanging health data. Learn more →
- HL7 v2
- A long-established health messaging standard widely used across hospital and laboratory systems. Learn more →
- RWE
- Real-World Evidence — clinical evidence generated from routine-care data (EHRs, registries) rather than only trials. Learn more →
- Ambient Scribe
- An AI tool that listens to a clinical encounter and drafts documentation; needs safety and DPIA evaluation before adoption. Learn more →
- UKMLA
- UK Medical Licensing Assessment — the GMC common assessment (Applied Knowledge Test + Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment). Learn more →
- PLAB
- Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board — the established route for international medical graduates to GMC registration. Learn more →
- OSCE
- Objective Structured Clinical Examination — a circuit of timed stations assessing clinical and communication skills. Learn more →
- Clinical Audit
- A cycle that measures practice against a defined standard, implements change, and re-measures. Learn more →
- Quality Improvement (QI)
- Iterative testing of changes (e.g. PDSA cycles) to improve a process over time. Learn more →
- PDSA Cycle
- Plan-Do-Study-Act — the core quality-improvement loop: plan a small change and predict its effect, do it on a small scale, study the result, then act (adopt, adapt or abandon). Learn more →
- UK Core (FHIR)
- A set of FHIR profiles that define how FHIR resources are used in UK and NHS settings, so systems exchange data consistently rather than only sharing the base standard. Learn more →
- SNOMED CT
- A comprehensive clinical terminology used across the NHS to code diagnoses, findings and procedures so that clinical meaning is shared consistently between systems. Learn more →
- dm+d
- Dictionary of Medicines and Devices — the NHS standard terminology for medicines and medical devices, used for safe, consistent prescribing and exchange. Learn more →
- HL7 FHIR Resource
- A modular unit of health data in FHIR (e.g. Patient, Observation, MedicationRequest) exchanged over web APIs and reusable across integrations. Learn more →
- NHS Number
- The unique 10-digit identifier for a patient in England, used to match records safely across NHS systems and a common prerequisite for interoperability. Learn more →
- Intended Use
- The precise statement of what a product does, for whom and in what setting. Clear intended use scopes regulatory, clinical-safety and procurement assessment — and over-broad claims slow deals down. Learn more →
- Clinical Safety Officer (CSO)
- A suitably qualified clinician accountable for clinical risk management of a health IT system under DCB0129/0160, who owns the clinical safety case and hazard log. Learn more →
- Hazard Log
- A living record of identified clinical hazards, their risk ratings and the controls that mitigate them, maintained as part of clinical risk management. Learn more →
- RWD
- Real-World Data — the raw data from routine care (EHRs, registries, claims) that, once analysed, becomes real-world evidence (RWE). Learn more →
- MHRA
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency — the UK regulator that oversees medicines and medical devices, including software classified as a medical device (SaMD). Learn more →
- UK GDPR
- The UK data-protection regime that, with the Data Protection Act, governs processing of personal data — including the requirement for a DPIA on high-risk processing such as most health AI. Learn more →
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