The words to use
- QALY
- A quality-adjusted life year: one year in full health. NICE divides a treatment's extra cost by the extra QALYs it brings.
- Cost-effectiveness threshold
- The cost per QALY NICE normally accepts: £25,000–£35,000 for technology appraisals since April 2026, up from £20,000–£30,000.
- Technology appraisal
- NICE guidance on a specific treatment. The NHS is legally obliged to fund and resource what it recommends.
- Opportunity cost
- The health lost elsewhere when a fixed budget is spent on one thing rather than another.
- Funding variation
- An agreement letting the NHS phase in a NICE-recommended treatment over time, as with tirzepatide, because demand is too large to meet at once.
