The words to use
- NHS England
- The national body that runs the NHS in England day to day. The government plans to abolish it under the Health Bill, which was in the Lords in October 2026.
- Integrated care board (ICB)
- An NHS body that plans and buys care for a local population, including GP, dental and pharmacy services. ICBs are merging and must halve their running costs.
- Strategic commissioner
- The government's term for what ICBs should become: bodies that plan care for their whole population, rather than performance-managing hospitals.
- Foundation trust
- An NHS trust with extra freedoms. The Bill would remove the need for governors and let ministers turn a failing foundation trust back into an ordinary trust.
- NHS Constitution
- England's statement of the NHS's seven principles and patients' rights, last updated in August 2023, including access based on clinical need, not ability to pay.
- Gatekeeping
- The GP's role in deciding whether a patient needs a specialist. It sends people to the right service and spares hospitals unnecessary referrals, but can delay a diagnosis if a serious problem is missed.
- Integrated care
- Coordinating primary, hospital, community, mental health and social care around a patient, so their care follows them rather than the organisation that provides it.
