Acronyms

Author: Mark Humble

We Love An Acronym We Do or... WLAAWD 

In social care and particularly in health we love an acronym, anything that saves 3 seconds of precious time or reminds people that we have our own special way of communicating that only those in the know are party too is grasped and seems to me often relished. Very often people now even have acronyms in their job title or indeed as their title e.g., LD Nurse or SALT.

And yet for more than 20 years the idea of personalisation or a personalised approach has been at the heart of social care and more recently health policy. The NHS 10 Year Plan identifies Personalised Care as one of the 5 key major practical changes to improve individual outcomes, and personalisation, person centred approaches, person centred plans and personal budgets have been and are the cornerstone of adult social care policy and practice.

However, it seems to me that the language of health and social care isn’t very personalised in fact it is increasingly becoming depersonalised, so depersonalised that at times it's really hard to see the person at all. In particular the increased use of acronyms to describe people, jobs and activity. Can you get any more depersonalised than referring to an individual or a group of people through a set of initials? e.g., CYP or LDA. 

This was pulled together following a brief review of current policy in relation to autistic children and young people and adults and people with a learning disability.

This is the story of X they are a CYP. with an LD which is a PMLD they also have MH which is an SMI as well as ASD, or an ASC, ADHD, SAD, PTSD, and a PD which is EUPD. 

They are a LAC, SEN, which is SEMH, SEND, BAME and LGBTQ+ and were a CIN. They have an EHCP, HAP, PCP, CPA and a regular CTR/CETR. 

They are subject to DOLs, which is a COPDOL, they have an IMHA, IMCA, RPR, CAA and a DNR in place. They have used a PHB and a DP. 

They have been an IP in an OAP under section 3 of MHA and subject to S117 and have been funded through CCC and then CHC. 

They have a SW, CPN, EHMPS and a BIA. X is known to CLTD, CMHT, CYPs, MHST, CYPEDS, AEDS, CYPIAT, CYPMHS, CAHMS, EIP, ASC, SALT, CSE, CYP24/7, MAPPA, PICU, MOJ and the LA. 

To support them they have accessed SENCO, OT, IAPT, PACT, DBT, CBT, EDMR, SCM, iBASIS-VIPP and CAPA. 

The information collected feeds into the ICB, ICS and NHSE as part of the MHLDA response to the LTP, the MHSDS and the JSNA and the development of KLOEs and is linked with ISN-SNOMED-CT Codes.

I am sure you could add any number of additional acronyms that are used across the system to this list, but hopefully it makes a point.

I had an interesting discussion with a colleague recently who was planning to pull together a list of acronyms to share with families as a number had complained that they didn’t understand the acronyms people were using in meetings. I suggested instead that it would make more sense simply not to use the acronyms; hardly a revolutionary or, to use the current language of the system, "transformational" idea! 

Even if you don’t agree with the idea that the use of acronyms contributes to the depersonalisation of people there can be little argument that using them very often doesn’t assist good communication. Isn't it about time we "transformed" the language of health and social care as part of the culture change that is needed to genuinely transform the way people receive the health and social care support they need and want?

The publisher is Citizen Network Research. Acronyms © Mark Humble 2023.